


Cherry's Adventures with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Part 1

by PerkyGoth14



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - All Media Types
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-09
Updated: 2020-10-13
Packaged: 2021-03-08 02:20:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 26,809
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26908012
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PerkyGoth14/pseuds/PerkyGoth14
Summary: Atticus, Cherry, Lionel, Mo, and Patch decide to visit a town called Storybrooke in the state of Maine for their summer vacation. The town seems mysterious and unique, but before they can enjoy their vacation, they're suddenly called away to go into New York City to help out against a crime wave and eventually meet four unlikely and unknown heroes: The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Part 1 of a trilogy that a buddy of mine and I are working on. Enjoy if you like me and my work, if you don't... Too bad for you, I guess. Read & Review! PS: Before anyone asks, no, this is not canon to Once Upon a Time: Cherry and Katie's Story or Once Upon a Toon.

Lionel Schwartz was a pretty down-to-earth sort of guy, even though he wasn't _from_ Earth. So naturally, he had suggested that he and his friends take a break from their average lives by going to the small town of Storybrooke, Maine for their summertime break. It was a pleasant place to visit, with its fair share of mystery behind it... Kinda like the Gravity Falls of the Northeast Region.

"Storybrooke?" Atticus asked.

"Strange name, I'm sure," Lionel nodded. "Seems harmless enough though."

"I guess we could use a bit of a new atmosphere," Cherry shrugged. "Especially since Atticus usually goes to visit relatives during the summer. Is it all right with them though?"

"Yeah, I thought we could all do something nice this time and maybe I'll see my mom's side of the family another time," Atticus replied. "So I guess Storybrooke might be a good idea... Wherever and whatever that is."

"Neat!" Lionel replied. "I've never been to Maine before, so this should be pretty fun."

"Maine... Sounds like a place where nothing crazy or unexpected could happen..." Atticus said. "What do we know about Maine?"

"Let's see..." Cherry said as she checked her phone for random state facts. "Their state bird is the black-capped chickadee, their state flower is 'winter pinecone', and apparently Storybrooke has its own beach." she then informed.

"Beach? Nothing wrong with that," Atticus smiled. "We could go for a swim."

"Sure, if you want." Cherry shrugged.

"I guess we'll find out and see more once we get there," Mo said. "So, we're all going then?"

"Yeah, I guess so." Cherry simply said.

"Okay, everyone, get on in," Lionel told them as they approached their van. "We're gonna be on our way to Maine!"

"All right... Off to Maine..." Cherry nodded as they all climbed into the van.

"Patch! Come here, boy!" Atticus called out.

Patch barked as he soon ran right over and came to jump into the van with them.

"Goodbye, Greendale." Mo began to say.

"Hello, vacation." Atticus added as he pet Patch.

Lionel started the engine, magically filled the tank, set the GPS, and the group was off on their way to Storybrooke. Atticus and Patch smiled at each other as they looked out the window, Mo began to take a bit of a nap to make the trip go by faster, and Cherry kept herself busy, luckily having a Sprite bottle so she wouldn't get carsick as she stared out her own window, daydreaming a little bit on the way to whatever this mysterious new place was and what they could do there.

* * *

In three hours, the group soon passed by a sign labeled 'Welcome to Storybrooke'.

"Looks like we've made it," Lionel announced. "Now to find a place to stay while we're here..."

As they crossed the town line, a blue shimmer seemed to shine through them somehow, but they all looked around at each other and just shrugged it off.

"Surely there's a hotel or something." Cherry replied.

"Or a Bed & Breakfast." Atticus added as he looked out the window, looking around the quiet and normal looking town.

"I'll check the map," Mo replied as she took out a folded-up map from her bag and unraveled it. "Hmm... There's a place called Granny's B & B, across the street from another place called Granny's Diner."

"Two birds with one stone!" Lionel declared. "We get something to eat, get settled, and then we go and get acquainted with this hamlet."

"You think they could be the same granny?" Atticus wondered.

"I think that speaks for itself, Detective." Cherry replied.

Atticus rolled his eyes at her snarkiness while Cherry just smirked as Mo then told Lionel where to go so that they could get settled.

"Hmm... I think I can sense another Dalmatian around these parts," Patch said as he sniffed the air. "...Perhaps a distant relative or a new friend of the same breed."

"Maybe," Lionel replied as he drove over to the diner and parked nearby. "But now to take in the local cuisine!"

"Let's hope there's something good." Cherry replied as a short elderly woman was seen talking with a taller younger woman.

"You're out all night, and now you're going out again tonight." The older woman glared.

"I should've moved to Boston!" The younger woman glared back.

"I'm sorry that my heart attack interfered with your plans to sleep your way down the Eastern Seaboard!" The older woman countered.

"Wow." Atticus said as they got out of the van.

"Uh, excuse us?" Cherry spoke up, coming to the two women. "Is the diner open?"

"Ah, yes, dear," The older woman smiled innocently. "Just keeping my 'favorite waitress' in check."

"...Right then," Lionel replied. "We're new here and we figured we could stop over for a bite to eat before we got settled and took a look around the town."

"Of course, come on in," The older woman nodded. "Right this way."

"Thank you, Mrs..." Atticus drawled out.

"Lucas, but everybody calls me 'Granny'," The older woman replied as she led them inside of her diner. "Ruby, don't dawdle... Or gawk at the customers."

"Ooh... What a nice young strong man~..." The younger woman smirked as she eyed Atticus.

"Heh..." Atticus chuckled sheepishly before Mo pushed him into the diner as she kept a warning glare on Ruby.

The group members each took a seat on either side of the booth and got out menus.

"Alright, so what will everyone be having?" Lionel asked.

"I think I'll have some steak." Atticus decided.

"Me too." Patch agreed.

"I'll probably just have a salad." Mo replied.

"Hmm..." Cherry paused as she looked around the menu. "I'm torn between soup or a salad."

"So you don't just order steak to drink the blood?" Patch asked.

"Spot, please," Cherry rolled her eyes. "I'm not an animal."

"Going with lasagna," Lionel replied. "I want to make sure I'm full for a few hours, plus I'll have plenty to wrap up for later."

The others nodded as that sounded like a pretty good idea.

"You guys thirsty?" Ruby asked as she stepped over.

The group gave their drink orders as well as their food orders.

"All right, I'll be back in a minute with your drinks and we'll see about your food," Ruby said as she wrote down their orders before walking off. "Thank goodness you didn't order the meatloaf."

"Why?" Atticus asked.

"Trust me, you don't wanna know." Ruby advised as she walked away.

"Um... Okay?" Atticus shrugged at that.

"I'm guessing that the meatloaf is pretty bad," Mo replied. "So naturally they wouldn't want anyone to order it."

Atticus just shrugged.

"So, what's the plan?" Cherry asked. "We eat and then we get settled in or should we explore the area?"

"Fine; we eat, then get settled in, put our bags away, and explore." Lionel explained as he kept waiting.

"Agreed." Everyone else soon nodded.

Ruby smiled as she gave them their drinks and soon walked off again.

"Quiet little town so far," Mo said. "Looks like nothing bad could ever happen around here."

"Yeah, I bet there's no villains, danger, or unexpected adventures here," Cherry added before she ducked down to the floor and covered her ears. "Ah!"

The others looked over, as well as other patrons, Ruby, and Granny, looking confused and concerned.

Cherry opened one eye as she looked around before sighing in relief. "That was close," she then said before going back to her seat. "I thought for sure we were gonna be busted just then."

"At least you didn't jinx us." replied Lionel as he and the others had their own ways of passing their time while waiting.

"Sorry, I guess I was so relaxed by the world here that I barely forgot classic tropes." Cherry shrugged as she got comfortable.

The group looked over and watched the TV as there was an afternoon talk show hosted by two people named Hart Archer and Goldie Locksley with sometimes breaking news from a man named Boyd Scaremonger who mentioned wolf attacks, but every time they came to him, there was no wolf, as Ruby rolled her eyes at his petty ploy for attention while on live TV.

"So far, so good." Patch whispered to himself.

"I like this place so far," Lionel replied. "It's got a sort of down-home vibe that makes me feel comfortable. I could definitely see myself moving here someday, you know?"

"Yeah, it seems nice so far," Atticus smiled. "Maybe I could visit a gym later."

"That'd be nice for you." Mo said with a small smirk.

"I just might visit and hang out in the library," Cherry shrugged as Granny came by with some bread as appetizers for until their meals would come in. "After we get settled of course, we'll check the map for anything interesting."

"Complimentary bread," Granny told the group. "This won't be added to your bill, you dears just looked so hungry."

"Thank you kindly, Miss," Lionel replied. "But should it come to the bill, we're more than covered..." His sentence trailed off as he glanced out the window, seeing a woman with black hair and a red dress walking up the street to the Town Hall.

Granny glanced at him before shrugging as she went off again.

"Hey... Wake up..." Cherry said as she waved her hand in front of Lionel's face. "What's gotten into you?"

The woman soon came into the diner and narrowed her eyes as she glanced around, leaving a bit of a cold atmosphere around her.

"...Well, she seems as delightful as a seasick crocodile." Cherry rolled her eyes.

The woman soon looked over, looking right in her direction.

"...Weirdo." Cherry quickly said before hiding her face behind a dessert menu on the table.

Lionel blinked as if coming out of a daze. "...Who _was_ that?" he asked, shaking his head to clear the cobwebs.

"Don't know." Atticus shrugged.

"She leaves a bit of a cold trail like Aunt Sarah." Mo mumbled.

"Well, well, Mayor Mills... Should I fetch the holy water?" Granny asked the younger woman dryly.

"Very amusing, Mrs. Lucas," The woman replied. "I'm here to pick up my lunch... Sidney's too busy right now to pick it up for me."

"Of course, I'll be back in a minute." Granny said before walking off suddenly.

Lionel felt his face turning bright red as he got a better look at Mayor Mills, then sat back down and tried not to draw attention to himself. Cherry eyed Lionel a bit strangely. Mayor Mills waited as patiently as she would allow herself as she sat in the bar of the diner, crossing her legs a bit in the stool as she looked all around, looking a bit cold and wicked.

"And you guys say I'm cold and distant." Cherry rolled her eyes.

"You kinda are..." Mo replied.

"Though, I guess not as much as her," Atticus added. "Something about her just says... Uh... I dunno... Yikes."

Lionel took out a book and began reading while trying to hide his blush. "I dunno... She seems alright..." he replied quietly.

"Hmm..." Cherry narrowed her eyes strangely.

Granny soon gave the younger woman a to-go box with her food. Mayor Mills then paid the money she had to pay before she accepted the box and soon walked out of the diner before she passed by the group, giving them strange looks.

"Can we help you with something?" Atticus asked.

"I just don't think I've seen you all around here before," Mayor Mills said to them. "You just struck me as a bit... Odd. No offense though of course."

"Oh," Mo replied. "Well... We just came here on a trip. Figured we'd get something to eat, find somewhere to sleep, and then take a look around town."

"Hmm... I see..." The woman then said. "Well then, let me be one of the first to tell you 'Welcome to Storybrooke'," she then began with a bit of a smile to look friendly and social. "My name is Regina Mills and I hope you have a good visit."

"Uh, thanks, Madam Mayor." Cherry replied.

"I usually give some apples or my famous apple turnovers as a housewarming or traveling gift, but I'm afraid I don't have any on me right now, but I do have an apple tree in my yard," Regina then said. "Just something to think about of course."

"Oh; that sounds nice," Lionel replied as he glanced up from his book. "We'll be sure to keep that in mind, Madam Mayor."

"Of course," Regina smirked. "May I know your names at least?"

The group looked at each other before giving a bit of a long introduction.

"And this is Patch," Atticus said, showing his Dalmatian. "I'm surprised Mrs. Lucas let us come in with him."

"Yes... Mrs. Lucas has always been... Kind to the canine species..." Regina remarked. "Almost reminds me of Dr. Hopper's dog. Well, I must be going, I have to eat up, then return to work before 3:00 if I'm lucky enough to be free by that time."

"Well, all right, nice seeing you, bye." Cherry said to the woman.

"See ya later." Mo added.

"Much later." Regina nodded before she then decided to leave the diner as Granny let the kids have their food in return.

Lionel put some money on the table as he and the others began eating their food. Granny nodded as she collected the money and let them eat up. Luckily, the food was very good so far, for all of them. Afterwards, the group took their leftovers (at least, the ones who had leftovers) to go, and walked across the street to Granny's B & B.

* * *

"One thing's for sure; the commute is quick!" Atticus pointed out.

"Yeah, that's a bright side." Cherry shrugged.

"Ruby, you take care of things, I'll be back in a bit." Granny told the younger woman before she rushed over to her inn.

Ruby nodded before she smirked at one customer who looked at her and she decided to sit with him and began to flirt with him. The group was about on the way to the front door before Patch let out a surprised yelp as an older adult dog which was a Dalmatian who began to sniff him a bit.

"Whoa! Pongo, easy there, boy..." A spiny, tall, thin, and nervous-looking, bespectacled man chuckled nervously as he pulled on his dog's leash. "I-I'm sorry about that..."

"Oh, it's okay, no problem," Atticus said to the man. "Huh... You have a Dalmatian too?"

"Ah, yes, his name's Pongo." The man smiled.

"Pongo? How interesting..." Atticus said.

"Yeah, seems to be a fitting name for a Dalmatian," The man chuckled bashfully. "Especially after that crazy news story where those 15 puppies were taken from their parents one night before they somehow made their way back home with no problem."

The group looked at each other.

"Well, that IS pretty impressive," Lionel replied. "Figures the name would catch on after all that."

"Pardon me," The man said. "Oh, you're new in town... Hi..."

The group just nodded at him.

"Well, if you ever need help with something on your mind and need to talk about it, feel free to give me a call," The man smiled as he took out a calling card, giving it to Cherry for them all to share. "Just a thought... Dr. Archie Hopper at your service."

"Thanks, Dr. Hopper," Cherry shrugged as she accepted it. "Nice to meet you, I think."

"Right then..." The man nodded as he went back to walking his dog. "Have a nice visit or move into Storybrooke!"

"Thanks!" The group replied as Granny came over to meet up with them, giving as friendly of a smile as possible as she went to let them come into her Bed & Breakfast.

"Well, first I fed you dears and now I'm gonna give you a place to stay," Granny said to them. "So, uh, I'm afraid I don't have a room big enough for all four of you, so maybe two to a room each if you don't mind?"

"Sure," Lionel replied. "Alright, gang; everybody partner up. Two to a room, plus a dog."

"I suppose we could do guys and girls in each room," Atticus shrugged. "You wanna get to know each other a little bit better, Lionel?"

Lionel shrugged. "Sure, it couldn't hurt." he replied.

"Names, please?" Granny asked. "Just to make sure."

The group then gave their names.

"All right, dears," Granny said, giving one key to Atticus and the other to Cherry. "Here are your keys, now I trust and hope that you don't lose them."

"We won't." Atticus reassured.

"You got it." Cherry nodded, as she and Mo went to one room, while Lionel, Patch, and Atticus went to the other.

Granny smiled at them as she waved to them. Cherry and Atticus soon unlocked their respective doors and took that time to step inside and get settled.

* * *

"Nice room," Patch commented. "I think we're gonna have a nice vacation in this quiet little town... Even if that Madam Mayor lady kinda creeps me out." he then added with a slight shudder.

"She seems cold, yes, but I'm sure as long as we don't get on her bad side that we'll be fine." Atticus replied.

Lionel nodded. "Besides, cold exteriors aren't all that there is to someone," he replied. "Speaking from experience, sometimes they can actually be pretty warm when they want to be."

"And I know about that too," Atticus added in agreement, taking out his weights and books. "Hopefully it all works out."

"And maybe we can actually get a vacation this time." Patch nodded as he stretched his legs while standing next to the bed that Atticus claimed.

"That would be great." Lionel replied as he set his stuff down near the bed.

"Tell me about it." Patch agreed.

Atticus turned on the TV that was in the room as a commercial came on for Granny's Diner with their waitress who did a bit of an awkward presentation, her dialogue sounded a bit stilted as they got comfortable and settled in as Cherry and Mo did the same in the other room.

"We can relax, and then we'll go out and look around town." Mo said as she sat in a nearby chair.

"Sounds good to me." replied Cherry as she made herself comfortable on the bed.

However, both pairs heard knocking on their doors.

"Huh? Who's that?" Atticus wondered.

"We don't want any!" Cherry called out as she sat up on the bed suddenly.

"It's important!" said a familiar voice. "You all have a mission."

Cherry and the others let off a collective groan of aggravation. Granny seemed to be away from her post for right now.

* * *

Drell sat in the lobby of the inn, reading a magazine before he looked over to see Atticus, Cherry, Lionel, Mo, and Patch.

"Whatya want?" Cherry asked firmly and in annoyance.

"Cherry..." Atticus said as that sounded rude.

"Sorry I'm ruining your vacation, but I have to get you guys out of here and into the big city," Drell said. "Don't worry though, the town line won't affect you."

The group looked confused about that.

"Just trust me," Drell said as he went to take them out the door. "You're needed in New York City."

"Oh, alright," Lionel replied. "I guess we could go..."

"I should've known this vacation was too good to be true..." Cherry sulked before throwing her arms in the air. "How could it get WORSE?!"

A strange-looking blonde man in a white labcoat happened to walk by before she suddenly punched him in the face, giving him a bloody nose, so he cried out and held his nose, groaning and crying out.

"Oof!" Mo winced. "Are you okay, sir?"

"Ugh... I'm fine... Watch it, kid..." The man grunted and groaned as he took out a hanky and pinched his nose. "I just hope your friend here didn't break my nose."

"Sorry, I didn't see you there." Cherry said to him.

The man groaned as he stormed off to go to the hospital as he was a doctor.

"...Anyway, come with me and I'll take you away to my magic van." Drell told the group.

The others just shrugged and walked off to the van, before climbing inside, with Drell getting in the front seat.

"All right then, let's go," Drell replied. "I hope I didn't interrupt anything."

"Just my last brain cell enjoying life while it still had the chance." Cherry shrugged.

* * *

A young dark brown-haired boy with hazel eyes was shown to be on the playground of Storybrooke Elementary School. All of the kids were playing, yelling at each other, and having a good time while their teacher, a woman with short black hair and blue eyes, smiled as she watched all of the playing children. The boy soon came over to the metal fence as the van took off and soon went to leave Storybrooke as it seemed to disappear with some magic which left him wide-eyed and very curious.

"Henry... Are you okay?" The woman asked as she came over to the boy.

"Fine, Ms. Blanchard..." The boy replied before he went off and sat at a table in the playground and took out a very large book instead of playing with the other kids.

Ms. Blanchard smiled softly, patting him on the back, and soon walked off. "Oh! No! Take that out of your mouth, Grace!" she then cried out as she came to one girl as the boy read his book while the group left Maine suddenly to go straight into New York.


	2. Chapter 2

"Alright, so what exactly are we doing here?" Atticus asked.

"As I said, you're going to New York City." Drell began.

"Isn't New York kinda dangerous this time of year?" Mo asked. "There's a lot of crime going on."

"I'm aware... And you're going to help out." Drell nodded.

"I guess this is where the Justice League's training will come in handy." Cherry shrugged.

"More or less." Lionel replied.

Drell nodded. "There IS a bit of a crime wave going on in the city, so you'd be right to keep on guard." he explained.

"A crime wave?" Atticus replied. "All right, nothing we can't handle."

"Hopefully this is worth it." Cherry remarked.

"It will be, I promise you." Drell nodded.

* * *

And so, the group drove through the city, watching as several people pickpocketed from unaware citizens; some people even stole television sets off a delivery truck and whatnot. 

"Whoa." Atticus and Patch said as they looked out to see what was going on.

It was disgustingly horrible to see what most people would do just to satisfy themselves during the escalating results of the city crimes.

"Much more than just a series of small, isolated incidents, it's apparent an organized criminal element is at work," A woman could be heard reporting on the news on TV while many people purchased newspapers and magazines about the horrible conditions that they currently lived in. "And at the moment, business is good. So good, in fact, there appear to be no eyewitnesses to any of these crimes. With complaints ranging from purse-snatching to breaking and entering, police switchboards have been swamped with the angry voices of more and more citizens who have fallen prey to the recent surge of crime that continues to plague the city."

The group passed by a TV store where said woman could be seen giving the report; Drell tuned the radio to allow the group to hear the news report.

"Instead of getting better, things are getting worse," The woman continued. "Even more alarming is the baffling and often bizarre nature of these crimes. Merchandise of every size and description, from skateboards to stereo systems, has been disappearing from store shelves and storage areas at an alarming rate. Even the victims themselves barely glimpse the thieves. Many don't even know they've been victimized until it's too late."

The group looked a bit scared and worrisome, though that was why they were there: to help out against this heinous crime waves.

"In fact, police have yet to come up with an eyewitness," The report continued as they rode into town to find a place to stay during their new mission/adventure. "Only a few vague reports of young boys or teenagers at the scenes have been filed, but whoever is behind these crimes, one thing is certain. These are much more than just a series of random incidents."

"Sounds like these punks are long overdue for a butt-kicking and a swing from the Hammer of Justice," Cherry narrowed her eyes. "Too bad we didn't bring our hero outfits."

"No worries," Drell told them as he brought out a bag and tossed it out to her before she yelped and caught it in her lap. "I got you guys covered. Luckily though, Thor and Zoe reminded me before I left home."

"Well, guys," Atticus then said with a sharp sigh. "It looks like we're in for another new adventure."

"Boy, it's been a minute since you've said that." Cherry remarked.

"Well, hopefully there's plenty we can do," replied Lionel as they kept on driving. "And we can find somewhere to stay while we're here."

"Don't worry, I'll find you a place," Drell reassured. "Like maybe a hotel or something."

"I guess that'll do," Mo replied. "Though Granny's place looked really warm and cozy."

"Yes, that woman's come along way from being a Child of the Moon and protecting her granddaughter with a crossbow." Drell mumbled to himself.

"What?" The others asked.

"Oh, nothing," Drell said. "You just get adjusted into New York and you can help save them from these horrible people."

"...Okay..." said the group, squinting at what Drell meant by "Child of the Moon", as they kept on driving.

"You guys totally heard that, right?" Atticus asked the others.

"Mm-hmm~..." Cherry, Lionel, Mo, and Patch nodded, suspiciously.

They soon drove over to a place to stay.

"Hignight Hotel?" Cherry asked. "Seems kinda seedy if you ask me."

"It's this or you sleep in the van," Drell replied as he unbuckled his seatbelt. "I did what I could for you kids."

"Okay, okay," said Mo. "Thanks..."

"Hignight Hotel... That's a new one on me." Lionel stated.

"Now, is Hilda here with the baby or is it just you?" Cherry asked.

"Yeah, is it?" Atticus added.

Cherry glanced over in annoyance before looking back.

"Why do you ask?" Drell asked them.

"Just curious, especially since we'll be in a rough and tough big city like this," Cherry said. "They might get hurt if you brought them along."

"No, they're at home," Drell replied. "I'm not crazy enough to bring them with me on a mission _this_ dangerous!"

"I'm just looking out for your little family." Cherry said innocently.

"Oh... Well... Thanks, Cherry..." Drell said softly.

"Hey, I represent the Element of Empathy," Cherry defended with a small shrug. "It's not like I get a sick thrill of your downfall or anything... I may enjoy Schadenfreude, but I have my limits."

"Fair enough," Lionel replied as they pulled up to the hotel. "Let's pop in and then we can decide what to do next."

"Excellent choice." Drell replied.

The group let out a small, annoyed groan before they soon came into the hotel to get checked in and get settled.

* * *

"I guess at least Saiyaman can help out in this adventure." Atticus whispered to Patch.

"Yeah, and Saiya Dog too." Patch whispered back in agreement.

"Just as long as they both don't get swelled heads!" Cherry told them as they got adjusted to their new surroundings in the big city, away from the small town in Maine.

Lionel nodded as they got to their rooms. "And so... It begins..." he murmured.

"Yep..." Atticus nodded.

"A new adventure." Patch added.

"Yep." Atticus nodded again.

"Guess we'll put these to good use later." Lionel said before he brought out his Bat-Mite uniform.

"Wonder if the Watchtower authorized for us to help out in our hero guises?" Atticus remarked before sighing. "I just can't stand crime going around with no one to stop... Sometimes it just makes me wanna make a hero for every city possible so that the innocent people can go around without fear, chaos, or disarray."

"Sure, but that would probably disrupt the natural order," Lionel replied. "Cuz evil and good are two sides of one coin, neither can exist without the other."

"Plus Cherry seems to think that winning all the time is kind of boring and stale." Patch commented.

"I guess that's a good point," Atticus replied as he got his uniform ready for when the time would come. "Either way... These guys are gonna wish they never crossed us once they meet us."

Everyone agreed to that as they started to watch some television.

"Who'd have thunk this city's TV stations reran _Rocky and Bullwinkle_ episodes?" Mo commented.

"Too bad a certain friend of mine isn't here," Cherry smirked. "She'd probably eat this up."

Drell continued to listen to the news broadcast though before it soon ended.

"Crimes without criminals? An invisible gang at work? Who are we gonna call?" The newswoman continued.

"I guess Ghostbusters is out of the question." Drell joked just to humor himself.

"Unfortunately, the police are the only ones available to combat what some are dubbing 'the silent crime wave'," The newswoman continued until she was soon done. "But perhaps the most disturbing silence is that coming from City Hall. April O'Neil, Channel Three Eyewitness News."

And so, the news report concluded shortly afterwards.

"So, do we just hang out or something?" Cherry asked.

"I'd let you kids go out and explore, but it's pretty dangerous this time of night." Drell replied.

"Oh, come now, surely we can protect ourselves with our magic and superpowers." Cherry shrugged.

"Well, there's not much to do," Drell replied. "But if you can find something at all, then go for it."

Cherry rolled her eyes before she walked over.

"Well, what did he say?" Patch asked.

"I don't know about you, but I think I'm gonna do a little patrol Batman-style," Cherry replied. "It's what The Dark Knight would've wanted anyway."

"Okay," Lionel said as he got into his suit and made himself taller. "Ready to go!"

Atticus, Mo, and Patch looked at each other.

"Last chance to join in," Cherry said before she put her hood on. "Are you in or out?"

"I guess we'll just hang out back here," Atticus replied. "Give us a call though if it gets too dangerous."

"All right then," Cherry nodded before she put her hood on then. "Come, Bat-Mite. Let's explore the nightlife of this crime-infested city."

"Yea, verily, Lady Gothika!" Bat-Mite agreed as he followed behind her.

The two then went off together.

"We'll keep an ear out for anything," Atticus told Mo as they got comfortable. "Let's watch some cartoons right now."

Patch nodded in agreement as that sounded like a great idea. Atticus, Mo, and Patch then bundled down with their cartoons as Bat-Mite and Lady Gothika did a little patrol work based on Batman's training as day quickly turned into night in New York City, especially due to their sudden arrival.

* * *

"It's quiet so far, but who knows how long that it'll even last?" Lady Gothika remarked to herself in a dark, raspy voice. "Night falls in both my heart and on the city... I tell ya, these crooks make me sick... Makes my body hunger for justice and safety for those innocent... And thusly..." she then stopped and coughed before clearing her throat as it returned back to normal. "Whatever happens, we'll try to protect it, even if in this city, no one knows our names just yet. For the love and learning under Batman, the Justice League, and for ourselves as well as their precious and fragile lives at stake."

"Lovely sentiment, L.G." Bat-Mite replied as he peeked over her shoulder and saw a woman in a yellow jacket being attacked by a group of punks, but before he could say anything further, something knocked out the street lamp nearby, darkening the scene.

"Great..." Lady Gothika rolled her eyes. "Now we gotta work in the dark."

"Shouldn't be a problem for you though?" Bat-Mite replied.

"Not at all," Lady Gothika smirked. "Luckily for me, I can do a whole lot more even better in the dark with my area of expertise."

There was some sort of beat down going on the woman and the punks were alone in the dark, but they soon had some company which went unseen by their mere mortal eyes, and soon, the punks were all tied up just as the police showed up.

"...Well, then," Lady Gothika said. "I guess that banana woman was in good hands."

"Yeah..." Bat-Mite replied. "The question is, _whose_ hands were they?"

The woman was helped up by one of the cops, but not before hiding something inside of her bag. Nearby, a manhole cover clanked shut.

"I guess whoever that just was." Lady Gothika said as she saw the manhole cover open and close, but she didn't see a face.

"Very interesting... And how very curious..." Bat-Mite remarked with a small nod.

Something was shown to be on the ground though that appeared to belong that of an ultimate ninja warrior. The woman picked it up and decided to collect it in her bag as the police took care of the punks for her as she just sat on the ground.

"Well, at least we found something interesting aside from an old woman getting her purse stolen." Lady Gothika shrugged at Bat-Mite.

"Yeah, that one feels pretty overdone," Bat-Mite agreed. "Although in this town, an old woman would probably be armed with some sort of gun."

"Actually, that sounds like my grandmother," Lady Gothika said with a smirk. "I guess we'll just head back then? I'm not sure what mroe we could do around here... Unless you wanted to check out that suspicious sewer...?"

"Hmm... Sure," Bat-Mite replied. "As long as we stay hidden."

"So... Disguise mode or just blending in with the shadows?" Lady Gothika suggested. "And should I let the others know?"

"Disguise mode," Bat-Mite replied. "And yeah; may as well let them know why we'll take a while to come back."

"All right," Lady Gothika said as she took out her phone and sent a quick group text. "Hopefully old Nancy doesn't give himself a headache about the little things, huh?"

"One can only hope." Bat-Mite nodded as he turned them both invisible and then headed down the manhole in pursuit of the mysterious creatures.

* * *

The two did their best to be quiet as they went to travel down the sewers since they were sure someone came out from there since they heard it close after the punks were tied up after the woman was saved from being wrongfully robbed. Eventually, they heard some laughter as they got closer, reminding each other to be quiet as they followed some bulky shadows. Four teenage voices were heard before Lady Gothika and Bat-Mite got closer to see who just who they were dealing with.

"We were awesome, bros."

"Awesome!"

"Yes, dudes and dudettes, Major League Butt-Kicking is back in town!"

"Awesome!"

As Bat-Mite and Lady Gothika got closer, they saw that they had encountered four man-sized turtles. Each of them was wearing a bandana with a different color, and one of them was lagging behind.

"Righteous!"

"Bossa nova!"

The quartet went silent as Bat-Mite and Lady Gothika glanced at each other in disbelief.

"What?"

"Bossa nova?" asked the blue-clad one, incredulous.

"....Chevy Nova?" suggested the purple-clad turtle.

Lady Gothika rubbed her eyes as she looked at the turtles in strong disbelief as the other three groaned to the one who tried to make up some sort of new catchphrase.

"Excellent!" The purple-clad turtle soon exclaimed after thinking about it for a few moments.

The other turtles then cheered and nodded.

"All right! Come on, let's move it," The orange-clad turtle soon told the others as they walked along the sewers together, acting like a bunch of high school students hanging out and having fun. "I'm starving. We're talking major pizza attack here, dudes."

"I just hope they don't have a taste for human flesh." Lady Gothika mumbled to herself.

"Of _course_ not," Bat-Mite rolled his eyes. "Human flesh... Puh-lease!"

The turtle with the red bandana looked down into his hands and sighed. "....Damn." he grumbled to himself as he followed behind.

Lady Gothika and Bat-Mite took that time to follow close behind while staying quiet. Eventually, they followed the turtles into what looked like a living room area as someone was preparing tea.

"We have had our first battle, Master Splinter," The blue-masked turtle said, trying to sound mature as they came into the room. "They were many, but we kicked--We fought well."

"Were you seen?" The stranger asked once he was addressed.

The turtles shook their heads, unaware of Lady Gothika and Bat-Mite's company of course before Lady Gothika let out a surprised gasp at the sight of this "Master Splinter".

"In this you must never lapse," Master Splinter advised, sounding as wise and mysterious as a vague fortune cookie's fortune before being shown to be a talking rat. "Even those who would be our allies would not understand. Our domain is the shadow, tray from it reluctantly. For when you do, you must strike hard and fade away... Without a trace." he then told the four turtles in front of him.

The red one finally spoke up. "...I lost a sai!" he exclaimed.

Master Splinter looked up. "...Then it is gone." he replied.

"But I can get it back!" The red one begged. "I can--"

"Raphael!" Master Splinter told him. "...Let it go."

The red-masked turtle groaned before shoving the purple one beside him. The other soon pushed him back and they got into a bit of a fight together like a couple of rowdy brothers. Lady Gothika shook her head, rolling her eyes at how most teenage boys could get sometimes.

"Your ninja skills are reaching their peak," Master Splinter advised as the turtles listened, though the orange-masked one soon went to the phone to make a call. "Only one truly important lesson remains, but must wait. I know it is hard for you here underground."

"I want a large thick crust with double cheese, ham, pepperoni..." The orange-masked turtle began in the background on the phone during Master Splinter's advice.

"Your teenage minds are broad, eager, but you must never stop practicing the art of ninja, the art of invisibility--"

"Oh, but no anchovies. And I mean no anchovies. You put anchovies on this thing, and you're in big trouble."

Master Splinter narrowed his eyes as he picked up a book and threw it at the turtle on the phone, making him yell out of pain. "Michaelangelo!" he then called out firmly.

"That'll do," The orange-masked turtle quickly added before hanging up and snickering a little with his brothers. "And the clock's ticking, dude."

"Teenage boys..." Lady Gothika rolled her eyes.

"You are still young, but one day, I will be gone," Master Splinter advised the turtles, sounding a lot more mature of course. "Use my teachings wisely. I suggest we all meditate now on the events of this evening." he then advised and soon got ready to do so himself to start out with.

Leonardo turned on a radio and it began playing Jimmy Buffett music; he and Mike began dancing to it. "Ninjutsu!" They both shouted.

"Well, it's _kinda_ like meditating!" Mike explained as he and Leo got back into it.

"Hey, Raph, where you going?" The blue-masked turtle asked the red-masked turtle who looked ready to leave the sewer.

"Out to a movie," Raphael grunted as he wore a trenchcoat, looking very aggravated. "That okay with you?"

The blue-masked turtle shrugged before he kept on dancing with the other two as he stormed off.

"Okay, I think we've been here long enough." Lady Gothika suggested to Bat-Mite.

"Alrighty." Bat-Mite replied as they headed for the exit.

* * *

They soon made it above the sewer.

"All right... So we're dealing with turtles... Who are ninjas and teenagers..." Lady Gothika said as she recapped what they had just witnessed.

"Teenage ninja turtles..." Bat-Mite added.

"Yeah, that sounds about right," Lady Gothika replied. "We'll tell the others. I'm sure they'll believe us... Why wouldn't they?"

* * *

They soon made it back to the hotel and Drell was shown to be asleep on the couch while Atticus, Mo, and Patch just watched cartoons to pass the time until Cherry and Lionel came back, though Atticus kept up with his sit-ups and push-ups every so often.

"We're back," Lionel called. "And boy, you guys won't believe what we've seen."

"Welcome back," Mo smiled. "Did you see other superheroes?"

"Uh... Well... Yes and no..." Cherry shrugged. "I guess... Would you call them superheroes?"

"Probably." Lionel replied.

"What was it?" Atticus asked.

"Okay, before you think I'm crazy though, let me remind you that you were the one who decided to teach your dog how to drive and enroll him into school." Cherry soon said.

"...Yes." Atticus replied with an indifferent look on his face.

"...Turtles," Cherry soon simply said. "We... Saw... Turtles... In the sewer... And they weren't ordinary turtles."

"Man-sized turtles with ninja weapons and colored bandanas," Lionel added. "And yes, they were real. Being trained by a rat-man in robes."

Atticus paused thoughtfully, taking a minute to process all of that.

"I know it sounds crazy and unbelievable." Cherry said.

"It really does," Mo replied. "Though I guess we wouldn't be ones to talk after the adventures you and Atticus have had together before me or Lionel have shown up."

"Yes." Cherry nodded.

"I'd have to see it to fully believe it, but I trust you guys," Atticus replied. "...They didn't hurt you, did they?"

"No, actually, they're kind of saviors around here, though no one's supposed to see them." Cherry informed.

"Because, as you know, people tend to react badly to what they don't understand." Lionel nodded.

"Yes, of course, like how I tried to make people believe in magic by listening to Patch talk." Atticus agreed.

"And you just made people feel like they were losing their minds and leaving them in great shock," Cherry narrowed her eyes with a small smirk. "You may be the smart one in this family, but you're sometimes a bit more impulsive and foolish with certain decisions."

Atticus just gave them a sheepish grin on his face.

"I'm sure Drell could tell us more if we asked," Lionel said. "Where is he?"

"He ordered turkey legs from Room Service and passed out during Jeopardy," Mo replied. "He's out like a light."

"Ah, yes; the tryptophan," Lionel replied. "I suppose it's fair."

"So I guess that's part of our task," Atticus said. "Maybe we're supposed to become allies with these turtle ninjas."

"That's my best guess," Cherry shrugged. "I guess it's better than getting jumped by a bunch of crooked teenagers who'll take anything just because they can and want to."

"True that." Lionel nodded.

"So what's our next move?" Mo asked.

"I'd say wake up Drell, but I don't have a death wish," Cherry smirked. "Unless one of you wants to play Rock, Paper, Scissors."

"Let him sleep," Lionel replied. "We can decide our next move while eating our leftovers and whatnot."

"I hear that!" Patch agreed.

They soon collected their food and went over to the table in the room by the window as they began to eat up.

"We got your text," Atticus said during eating. "I wanted to swoop in and help out, but Mo told me not to unless I was asked. I can't help but fight the hero instinct though, I guess that's just what I get for learning under Superman."

"Yeah, well try and fight it harder." Lionel retorted.

"I'm not perfect." Atticus shrugged bashfully.

"Confirmation!" Cherry grinned as she rested her chin between her hands that pressed together.

Atticus rolled his eyes before sipping his drink.

"So, should we also meet them in our hero forms?" Mo asked.

"Maybe..." Cherry replied thoughtfully. "Since they're having a secret, we could share our secrets too... And maybe once we gain their trust, we can find out and learn more about each other."

"Yeah, I think the red one went out to see a movie," explained Lionel. "Although we should probably go in civilian mode so that we don't blow his cover."

"Then let's finish up our dinner and maybe follow him," Atticus suggested. "All of us."

"Sure, sure." Lionel nodded as he went back to eating his lasagna.

"How's your lasagna at least?" Cherry asked him. "This food's a lot better than I expected."

"Really good!" Lionel nodded. "Even though it's been reheated!"

"Looks like if we ever get back to Storybrooke, we're definitely gonna visit Granny's Diner again." Cherry decided.

The others smiled in excitement over that.

"All right, enough leftovers and idle chitchat," Cherry then said as she stood up. "Let's go catch us a turtle in disguise."

"Oh-KAY!" The others declared as they got their things and headed off into the city, leaving another note for Drell.

Drell chuckled in his sleep, hugging his pillow as he was clearly dreaming about Hilda.

* * *

The group soon hit the streets, passing by a motor scooter which was making a pizza delivery as they went to follow after Raphael who was in disguise as he made sure no one would recognize him as a turtle. Luckily for him, he seemed to blend in with the crowd alright so far.

"I don't know if I see him, but I have a hunch." Cherry said to her group.

Said turtle was just leaving the movie theater after having seen "Critters 2". "Where do they come up with this stuff...?" he muttered as he made his way to a nearby sidewalk.

"Good eye, Cherry." Atticus said.

"Heh. No sweat." Cherry smirked proudly.

They soon followed after while also trying to be casual and blend in with the large crowd as an old woman walked along with her own purse. A couple of thugs soon ran up behind her, soon beside her, and snatched away her purse and took off running ahead of her.

"Whoa!" Raph called out before he soon stuck out his foot and made the two thugs trip and fall right in the middle of the street suddenly and the old woman's purse was sent flying right back over to her.

"Yeah... Whoa..." Atticus added as he nodded in agreement.

"That was awesome." Patch beamed.

The two thugs ran off into the park.

"What the hell was _that_?" One of them asked before someone jumped down from a tree. 

It was a man with gritty looking clothes, wearing a hockey mask over his face. _"That..._ Was a crime, you purse-grabbin' pukes," the man replied as he took a hockey stick out of the golf bag on his back. "...And _this_ is the penalty!" He swung the hockey stick and knocked both would-be muggers over. "Two minutes for slashing... Two minutes for hooking..." he grinned. "And let's not forget, my personal favorite... Two minutes for high-sticking!"

"How about five minutes for roughing, pal?" Raph asked, stopping him from giving the two crooks brain damage.

The group hid away and watched Raph interact with the strange hockey-masked man, though Cherry thought of him as a Jason Vorhees wannabe if she had to guess.

"Hey, Bogey, who died and made you referee?" The strange man asked Raph as his face was shown. "You did your job. Get out of here and let me do mine. These JV lowlifes need to be taught a lesson."

The two punks soon got back up and ran away while they still had the chance.

"Not like that they don't," Raph scoffed. "Not from you."

"It looks like you're the one who needs a lesson, pal," The man scoffed as he brought out a pair of bats, noticing that the punks had ran away when he wasn't paying attention. "Class is Pain 101. Your instructor is Casey Jones."

"I don't want to fight you." Raph disagreed.

Jones shook his head as he got ready to fight anyway. "Tough rocks, pal." he then retorted.

"Here we go." Atticus said knowingly to himself.

Casey swung his bat at Raph twice, but Raph caught it on the third swing.

"A José Canseco bat?" The turtle asked. "Tell me you didn't pay money for this..."

"Ooh," Casey smirked as he smacked Raph aside. "It was a two for one sale, pal."

Raph got to his feet, but Casey noticed that his hat had fallen off. "What are ya, some sorta punker?" he asked, squinting.

"Punker?" Patch repeated.

"Shush." Cherry warned.

"I hate punkers," Casey continued before taking a long look at Raph, noticing that he seemed inhuman. "Especially bald ones with green make-up who wear masks over ugly faces."

"That's it." Raph glared as he got ready to bat up against Casey before trying to swing the bat at the guy, only for him to duck down in time. "New batter!"

"Strike one!" Casey retorted with a smirk.

Raph then tried to swing again, but he missed again.

"Whiffer!" Casey mocked.

Raph then jumped in the air with a spin before ending up right behind Casey and then struck him out instantly with the bat from behind, finally getting him that time. "Home run!" he then cheered for himself, pinning Casey down with a foot on the man's stomach to hold him down. "Raphael wins! One-nothing!"

"Heh, not bad," Mo chuckled. "I could've used that skill when I lived on the streets."

Casey got to his feet and pulled a bat with a flatter edge. "New game, round head; Cricket." he smirked.

"Cricket?" Raph asked incredulously. "Nobody understands cricket! You gotta know wotta crumpet is to understand cricket!"

"Then how about I teach you?" Casey remarked as he wound up his bat and swung, knocking Raph into the air and sending him flying into a garbage can.

"So long, freak," Casey smirked as he ran off. "I got work to do."

"'FREAK'?!" Raph screamed, angrily struggling to get the trash can off his head. "'FREAK'?!"

"Sounds like he doesn't like being called a freak." Atticus remarked.

"I guess you are a detective." Cherry rolled her eyes.

Casey soon kept on running which made Raph chase after him, so the group landed on their feet and soon decided to follow after to see where this would go, though a taxi cab nearly ran over Raph during the chase, luckily not hurting the turtle.

"What the heck was that?" The passenger asked with wide eyes.

"Looked like a big turtle in a trench coat," The cab driver replied before looking back at him. "You going to La Guardia?"

* * *

The chase soon continued as it took a bit longer than expected.

"Come back here!" Raph called out to Casey. "I'm not finished with you! DAAAAAMN!"

"Well, from what I can determine, Raphael has a major chip on his shoulder," Lionel stated. "He hates being judged for how he looks, and he knows that even if he can talk like humans and act like them, they'll never truly accept him for who he is."

"Kinda rough," Cherry remarked. "He's a bit damaged on the inside."

Atticus, Mo, and Patch nodded in agreement, feeling a bit solemn.

"That's why he's so gruff personality-wise," noted Lionel. "Anyone else feel like following, or do we go back to the room?"

"Honestly, Lionel? I feel like I've done enough for one night... No offense, of course." Atticus replied.

"Yeah, not to mention the long ride over after suddenly going away from home just to be taken away again." Mo added.

"We can try something else tomorrow," Cherry suggested. "They're bound to stop more crimes within the day or so... I guess, unless they also work at night, but still. We should probably call it a night tonight."

"Well, alright then." Lionel said as he snapped his fingers to send them all back to the hotel room.

* * *

Drell was luckily still fast asleep.

"Hopefully we don't get robbed or anything in our sleep." Atticus said to the others.

"Don't worry," Mo said before she took out a switchblade knife. "I always carried this around before my new parents adopted me in case someone tried to bother me or Angel."

"Can I be scared of you now?" Cherry asked, flinching slightly.

"Oh, come off it," Lionel rolled his eyes. "You have powers."

"Yeah, I know," Cherry smirked before yawning. "Mm... I hope I can actually get some sleep this time."

Atticus and Mo soon went to get ready for bed before Patch began to make himself comfortable at the foot of the bed. Lionel yawned as he got dressed in his pajamas and climbed into bed.

"Good night, everybody." Cherry said as she got comfortable.

"Night." The others replied as they went straight to sleep that night.

Cherry stared out the window as she watched the full moon before she soon drifted off to sleep after them.


	3. Chapter 3

Eventually, the night gave way to another morning. Cherry groaned a bit, trying to keep sleeping before Patch licked her face since he was already awake.

"Come on, Cherry," Patch said. "It's a brand new day."

"Spot, I asked you not to do that to me in the morning." Cherry groaned.

"But we should get some breakfast before we have to continue our mission." Patch suggested.

"Okay, okay," Lionel yawned as he was already on his way into the restroom. "Already on it."

The group then slowly woke up to start another brand new day and their brand new adventure. Drell soon woke up and looked around before seeing the kids already getting to it.

"Is there a breakfast buffet in this hotel?" Cherry asked.

"Yeah, we'll get some breakfast and I guess we'll talk more about your mission here." Drell suggested.

"Sounds good, I guess." Cherry shrugged.

Shortly afterwards, the group was downstairs, at a breakfast buffet. The group collected foods that they all liked along the buffet, filling up their plates and cups as much as they could before they went to sit down to eat.

"So... It sounds to me that you met them..." Drell said as they met up and talked.

"Yeah... But... Who's them anyway?" Cherry replied.

"Who else?" Drell said mysteriously. "The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles."

There was then a bolt of lightning with a thunder strike suddenly, as if on cue as he said that.

"Honestly, at this point, nothing should surprise me." Cherry remarked with a shrug.

"Catchy title," Lionel replied. "Sounds like a comic book... Or a toyline."

"Or a Saturday morning cartoon." Atticus commented.

"I was gonna say that." Cherry added.

"Do you know a lot about them?" Mo asked.

"I know some basics, yes," Drell nodded. "I'm also a firm believer in letting you kids get to know them better so you can gain their trust and maybe they'll help you out, especially with how New York City is crawling with thieves and kids who will pickpocket you just for the funsies."

The others nodded to that as a green-haired teen with piercings was shown to be sneaking along and soon tried to reach for Drell's wallet when he wasn't paying attention.

Drell soon shot the teen with a blast of magic without looking and turned the punk teen into a rat and smirked at him before kneeling down sharply. "Now... Scurry off..." he then said.

The former teen soon took off running as he had failed at his task.

"That kid should've known better than to steal from you anyway." Cherry remarked.

"Wotta moron," Lionel remarked. "So yeah, the Ninja Turtles."

"But yes," Drell replied. "I'll give you a quick summary."

"By all means, go ahead." Atticus said.

"Yeah." Patch nodded in agreement.

"Well... You see, they were once ordinary, regular, amphibiac--" Drell began.

"Turtles are _reptiles_." Cherry interrupted to correct him.

Drell narrowed his eyes in annoyance before he continued. "Whatever... They were once regular animals, but then something happened." he then said.

"What happened?" Mo asked.

"Well, one day, when they least expected it, some sort of toxic ooze came about and they happened to wander into it, thus mutating them and turned them into intelligent creatures," Drell continued, making sure that only they would hear. "Eventually, they met their new friend, mentor, trainer, and father figure, who took them in and taught them the ways of a ninja."

"Sounds pretty wild." Lionel replied.

"So where did Master Splinter come from?" Cherry wondered.

"That's a good question." Atticus replied.

"Is he a mutant too or something?" Cherry asked.

"Yeah," Drell nodded. "His story is a long and tragic one, but it'll mean more coming from him than me."

"Well... All right then," Cherry said. "Thanks for telling us about the turtles though."

"No problem," Drell replied. "Also, we better look out for April O'Neil."

"Is she dangerous?" Mo asked.

"No, she's a local newswoman and she... Well... You'll see..." Drell replied. "Just remember that name: April O'Neil."

"Got it." Atticus nodded.

"Alright, done," Lionel replied as he got up from the table. "Let's head out and get the day started."

The group soon collected their trash and threw it away as they soon got up from the table together to start their adventure.

"There ya go, kids," Drell said to them. "Now, remember what I said!"

"We will!" The group replied as they nodded at him before they went to leave the hotel for the time being.

"I guess we can walk around and survey for a while," Lionel told the others. "Because I'm not sure what else to do."

"Fair enough," Atticus said. "Superhero patrol?"

"I don't think that's a good idea since people don't really know us around here," Cherry shrugged. "I mean, we're not famous... Right?"

"Lots of people certainly think we are." Patch replied.

"Yeah, but this place seems a bit more down-to-Earth," Lionel replied. "Some might ask why we're here since this isn't our territory."

"Hmm... All right..." Atticus nodded. "I guess that's fair enough."

The former teen turned into a pig soon snorted as he waddled by them.

"Stay in school, little jerk!" Cherry called out mockingly.

"That was a little uncalled for." Patch said to Cherry.

"He'll get over it." Cherry shrugged.

"I guess he changed into a pig from a rat." noted Mo.

"Should we change him back?" Atticus asked.

"It was Drell's magic, so he'll probably do it or the kid will change back later before his parents get worried." Cherry shrugged.

There seemed to be a kid with red hair tied in pigtails who was wandering around the alleys as they walked and talked.

"Might as well get some pictures for my scrapbook and Facebook album until we meet you-know-who..." Cherry said as she took out her camera and snapped a few pictures of the sights and sounds of New York City.

"Sure, sounds like a solid plan." Lionel shrugged as he got out his phone and began taking pictures.

Patch sniffed the air before grinning and drooling.

"What is it, boy?" Cherry smirked. "Did Timmy fall down a well?"

"Oh, that joke gets funnier every time you say it." Patch rolled his eyes.

"What is it then?" Mo asked. "You look hungry suddenly."

"I smell pizza," Patch said. "I wonder if we should stop by and get some?"

"Sure, okay," Atticus replied. "It _has_ been a while since breakfast, so let's get some lunch!"

The group soon came into the pizza place. The redheaded girl was shown as a preppy-looking blonde-haired girl came to her right side and a brown-haired boy with a backwards cap on his head was shown on her other side.

"All right... Let's get some pizza," The tomboy said to her friends. "Max? Melissa? Follow my lead. This is the only way to get anything in this town."

The other two kids nodded as they soon went to go inside with their friend to get some pizza.

* * *

"Man, there sure are a lot of kinds of pizza to choose from," Cherry said as she looked at the collection of toppings. "It even says here that they take special requests. I bet they could get you a bone pizza, Spot."

"I guess we'll see for sure, as long as they serve dogs." Lionel replied as he strolled up to the counter.

A worker was behind the counter, glancing over at Patch.

"It's okay, he won't hurt anyone." Atticus reassured the worker.

Patch gave a cute puppy dog look and even whimpered. The worker rolled his eyes and soon decided to shrug it off. Atticus and Patch then smiled.

"Vegetarian pizza." Mo reminded Lionel.

"Yeah, he knows." Cherry reassured the tomboy.

"Seafood pizza if you got any," Lionel spoke up. "As in: shrimp, clams, crabmeat, fried fish, lobster meat, squid, octopus... All of those on it. But no anchovies."

The worker nodded. "And I trust that you'll leave a tip?" he then asked as he began to cash that in.

"Certainly!" Lionel reassured.

The boy and girl from outside, named Max and Melissa, soon stepped into the place, looking innocent.

"All right," The worker then said. "Is this for here or to go?"

"It's for here." Lionel replied.

"All right," The worker said, handing him plaque with #13 written on it. "Your total comes to $25.50 and I do hope that you leave a generous tip."

Atticus, Cherry, Mo, and Patch sat and waited for Lionel to come back, though Cherry seemed to have something on her mind.

"You okay, Cher?" Atticus asked.

"I'm fine..." Cherry replied as she kept an eye on Lionel.

Atticus shrugged at that and soon took out the Storybrooke map to look for anything interesting they can probably check out when they would be done here and go back to the mysterious little town. Lionel gave the guy the money and put in a five-dollar bill for the tip jar.

"Alright, so where else would we be able to go in Storybrooke after this is over?" asked Mo. "Hmm... Maybe take a look at that boat?"

"Maybe it's a pirate ship museum or something," Atticus replied. "It looks pretty realistic based on how it looks on the map."

"We could go there, sure," Patch nodded. "It'd be interesting."

"Also there's a library," Mo smiled. "Atticus, Cherry, you guys love books, that might be a lot of fun for you."

"Also you could visit the animal shelter." Atticus smiled back at his girlfriend.

Max and Melissa soon went to get their orders in next as someone was shown to be sneaking in the back behind the counter without the worker noticing which was the redheaded girl from before.

"Speaking of Storybrooke..." Cherry began before facing Lionel. "What was that back at the diner?"

"What specifically?" Lionel asked casually.

"When 'Madam Mayor' came into the diner," Cherry replied. "You were looking at her funny."

"Never piss off Cherry," Mo commented as spiritual advice to anyone out there. "She _will_ remember it and make sure that you do too."

"Alright, I admit I got a little flustered," Lionel replied. "She was dressed nicely; can you blame me?"

"Right..." Cherry narrowed her eyes.

"Uh-oh..." Atticus spoke up. "Cherry, are you jealous?"

"What?! Pfft..." Cherry rolled her eyes and scoffed. "Gimme a break..."

"Ms. Mayor did seem like a pretty lady." Patch had to admit.

"Dogs should be seen and not heard..." Cherry grumbled in annoyance.

Patch rolled his eyes. "And here I thought that was children..." he remarked.

"Look, if I did anything to cheese you off, then I'm sorry," Lionel replied.

"You were just looking at her funny." Cherry said to Lionel.

"And clearly I've cheesed you off," Lionel replied. "Got you feeling all jealous and whatnot."

"Hmm..." Cherry paused thoughtfully as she decided to get up and get some soda.

"I wouldn't worry about it too much," Atticus said to Lionel. "She'll probably cool down a little once we get that pizza."

"Whatever you say, man," Lionel shrugged as they checked out the map of Storybrooke. "You think that pirate ship is real?"

Cherry soon took out a cup and went to get herself a soda as the kids in line were making a ridiculously long pizza order, though the perky goth soon looked behind the counter. The redheaded pigtailed girl was shown with a purple backpack as she began to fill it up with pizza boxes that were fresh and ready to go for delivery as she looked around, making sure no one would see her.

"It could be," Atticus replied. "I wouldn't rule anything out."

"All right, then that's a definite spot to check out when we get back." Mo nodded.

Cherry and the redheaded girl soon made eye contact and the younger girl began to run off. "H-Hey! What're you doing?!" she then called out.

The worker looked over. "HEY!" he then snapped as the redheaded girl ran away.

Max and Melissa then ran out of the pizza place next as the worker tried to chase the redheaded girl.

"What the heck...?" Cherry muttered.

"I told you punks!" The worker snapped as he tried to go after them, holding a broom. "If you want pizza, you're gonna have to pay for it like everybody else! Ugh... What a bunch of ingrates..."

"I guess that happens a lot, doesn't it?" Lionel remarked. "Could be related to those mystery thefts."

"Those kids..." The worker grumbled as he went back to work. "Excuse me."

The group nodded as they let him get to work.

"They seemed a bit younger than us, but not by much," Cherry said to the others. "They seemed like... Preteens if I had to guess."

"I guess this crime wave is recruiting from all over." Mo remarked.

* * *

Eventually, they were given their pizza.

"Now... Breadsticks? Mozzarella sticks? Anything else?" The worker offered to them.

"Mozzarella sticks sounds good," Cherry said. "Does that cost extra?"

"Just a quarter more for those and unlimited soda refills." The worker replied.

"...Fine." Lionel said as he gave him a quarter.

The worker smirked, accepting the quarter before going off.

"I'm sorry I got jealous," Cherry said to Lionel. "I guess I was kinda overreacting... Maybe I was."

"Nah, it's fine," Lionel replied. "You were justified."

"Well... Thanks..." Cherry nodded as she took one slice and began to eat it up. "Mm... Perfect... I just love gooey and melty cheese."

Lionel smiled as he took a piece and ate it. "You said it..."

"On the plus side of visiting this big city, the pizza's great." Atticus smiled back.

"Yum!" Patch beamed as he even helped himself.

Luckily, they were able to sit down and enjoy their pizza without any further disturbances. The worker soon put the TV on in the background as a police chief was being interviewed for the news while the group ate their lunch.

"I guess those Turtles don't come out during the daytime." Cherry whispered.

"Maybe someone would see them if they did." Atticus guessed.

"Yep," Lionel replied. "After all, everyone knows ninja operate best under cover of darkness. Plus, who's gonna notice a big turtle at night?"

"Fair point." Atticus nodded.

"On the plus side... This is the best pizza I've ever had in my life..." Cherry said as she instantly took another slice.

"Sure is!" Patch agreed. "So we can take the rest of it back when we're done."

"Great toppings choices by the way." Cherry said to Lionel.

"No problem!" Lionel smiled as they decided to pack up the rest of the pizza since they couldn't eat all of it in one sitting.

"I wonder where those kids went?" Cherry wondered. "I hope they don't run into us again."

"Odds are, we most likely will when we least expect it." Lionel replied.

The worker waved goodbye to them and they soon walked out of the pizza shop. A seemingly familiar face seemed to be in the crowd, wearing a trenchcoat and hat while reading a newspaper as the people of New York City simply went about their day.

* * *

"Guys? I think I've found your man." Patch spoke up as he looked across the street.

"Super-Sight?" Cherry guessed.

"Maybe?" Patch replied innocently.

"Either way, at least we found him." Lionel replied.

A certain woman was coming down the steps of where she was visiting after her news broadcast.

"And I think we found Ms. O'Neil too." Atticus said.

"Yeah, that news lady." Cherry added.

"Don't ambush her though," Mo advised. "We might scare her off."

"At best, we oughta keep a safe distance so she doesn't think we're gonna mug her." Lionel added as they saw April heading for the subway.

"Right, let's social distance this girl," Cherry nodded. "...That sounds awful in hindsight for some reason."

The group then followed after, though trying to blend in and look casual as they followed April to the subway.

April soon came down the steps to make it to the next subway only for it to zip off, leaving without her. "Aw, great!" she then groaned in misfortune.

"Oh, no." Atticus said.

April soon looked around, not sure what else to do as the group was about to come down until a different group appeared, startling the woman instantly.

"We've been waiting for you, Miss O'Neil." One of the strangers informed from within the group that surrounded the innocent woman.

"Am I behind on my Sony payments again?" April replied with a small laugh, thinking and hoping this was some kind of joke.

"I doubt that's why they're here." Atticus said to himself.

Cherry rolled her eyes from that as they continued to watch from a safe distance.

"Your mouth may yet bring you much trouble, Miss O'Neil. I deliver a message," The stranger informed before striking her across the face suddenly, making the group wince. "Shut it."

"That was horrible, but also kinda clever," Cherry said to herself. "I'll have to remember that."

April took out the sai from the previous night, but the ninja knocked it from her hand. "Alright...that's it!" she snapped, trying to fend off thr Foot with her bag. But one of them knocked her down before Raph reclaimed his fallen sai.

"It's him." Cherry whispered.

"From last night?" Atticus asked.

Cherry and Lionel nodded at him in response. Raph then jumped out once he had both of his sais back and began to attack with his own ninja skills as the group watched from afar. Another subway was soon coming down the tracks as the Ninja Turtle soon scooped April up in his arms before he vanished after the subway train as a trio recovered from the attacks, not seeing Raph or April anywhere.

"Come on, we better follow them." Atticus told the others.

With a nod, the group headed off after Raphael, leaving the squad of ninjas by themselves. The remaining ninjas soon looked around, wondering where to go and find their target as well as her accomplice. Raph carried April in his arms like a bride as they traveled through the sewers before he turned around as he felt something behind him. The group flinched a bit as they were exposed.

* * *

"Um... Hey." Atticus said.

"We don't mean to disturb you." Mo added nervously.

"Great, just what I need: company!" Raph groaned. "Leo is gonna get on me about _this_ for months..."

"Now, now, settle down there, you can trust us." Atticus replied.

"Yeah, right," Raph scoffed and rolled his eyes. "Like I'm gonna trust a bunch of strangers who just suddenly show up."

"Really, you can," Cherry insisted. "We won't tell anybody about this and we'll even be your friends."

"Uh-huh..." Raph snorted, not believing that in the slightest.

"Just to show that we mean no harm, we bring a peace offering," Lionel replied as he held out his pizza box and opened it, revealing his seafood pizza. "Or rather, a pizza offering. From one non-human to another."

Raph checked, took a piece, and ate it. "...Alright, fine. Just stay close and no funny business." he remarked.

"We promise." The others nodded.

"Right..." Raph nodded back and soon led them further into the sewers to where "Lady Gothika and Bat-Mite" found from last night.

"Are you crazy?" The blue-masked turtle known as Leonardo asked as Raph set April down on the couch after coming inside with the group behind him.

"Yeah, Leo, I'm crazy!" Raph rolled his eyes sardonically. "A loony!"

"Why...?" Leo began to ask.

"Why? Oh, I don't know. 'Cuz I wanted to redecorate," Raph scoffed. "A couple of throw pillows, a TV news reporter with a bunch of kids we ain't never seen before... What do you think?"

Leo narrowed his eyes firmly from that.

"Man... Snarky turtle is snarky..." Cherry remarked thickly.

"Look, Miss O'Neil was attacked in the subway," Lionel explained. "And Raphael saved her. He couldn't just leave her with those guys! Also, who would believe us if we told them? Man-sized turtles living in the sewers; you hear how ridiculous that sounds?"

"Raphael, what are you doing?" A wise old voice asked before it was shown to be none other than Master Splinter.

"She got jumped in the subway," Raph told the rat who was his father figure. "I had to bring her here."

"It's the news lady and some kids." The purple-masked turtle who was named Donatello remarked about their company.

"Can we keep them?" Mikey asked hopefully as he looked down at April eagerly.

"Bring water, cold washcloth, pillow, and you children," Splinter began to demand before looking at the group. "Why have _you_ come?"

"We mean you guys no harm," Atticus promised. "You can trust all of us."

Leonardo crossed his arms. "We'll be the judge of that." he replied.

"Well, that April lady got jumped, and Raphael saved her," Mo explained. "We had to come with to see if she'd be alright, and to make sure we didn't tell anyone about you guys."

"You seem like a trustworthy group," Splinter said to them. "You have come from far, haven't you?"

"Yes, sir, we come from a very great distance and have been on many, many, many adventures," Atticus smiled and nodded. "We have some secrets of our own."

"Hmm... Let me see to this woman and we shall see if you are worthy enough to be trusted." Splinter advised.

"That's fair." Mo replied maturely.

"Very well..." Splinter nodded as he soon catered to April.

* * *

The group sat nearby as April was being tended to. April was out of it for a while during her nursing, but she eventually opened her eyes. Splinter was shown to be standing right in front of her which startled her because she didn't expect this at all.

"Yow!" Patch winced from the high-pitched screaming. "That's worse than a dog whistle. No offense, ma'am."

April soon screamed again as that made her feel even worse.

"Hi." The turtles soon smiled.

And yet again, April screamed and looked around in pure terror and panic. "Oh, my God! "I'm dead! I'm dead, aren't I?" she then panicked and whimpered in distress. "No, I'm dreaming. I must be dreaming. Those guys in the black pajamas, they jumped me. And that rat... I saw you in the parking lot. That explains you. And you guys... I have no idea where you came from." she then began to ramble.

"If you will please just sit down and calm yourself, I will tell you where we came from." Splinter said slowly and calmly as April looked terrified and overwhelmed.

"It talks!" April gasped out of fright.

"This might take a while." Mo commented.

"It knows my name..." April whimpered as she sat down. "...Why don't I ever dream of Harrison Ford?"

"For 15 years, we have lived down here," Splinter began. "Before that time, I was the pet of my master, Hamato Yoshi."

"Hamato Yoshi?" Atticus asked. "I don't think I've heard of that name."

"Mimicking his movements from my cage and learning the secret art of ninja," Splinter continued, revealing the secret origins to April and the rest of the group since they didn't know the full story yet. "When we were forced to come to New York, I found myself for the first time without a home, wandering the sewers, scavenging for whatever I could find. And then, one day, I came upon a shattered glass jar and four baby turtles."

"That was us!" Mikey piped up.

"Ya don't say." Cherry snarked.

The other three turtles groaned and complained to him as he just pouted in response.

"The little ones were crawling into a strange glowing ooze from a broken canister nearby," Splinter continued to tell the story. "I gathered them up in an old coffee can and when I awoke the next morning, I received a shock, for they had doubled in size."

"Whoa." Atticus said.

"I, too, was growing, particularly in intellect, and I was amazed at how intelligent they seemed," Splinter continued. "But nothing could have prepared me for what happened next."

"What happened next?" Atticus asked as he began to get a picture in his head of the origin of these Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

"One of them spoke," Splinter replied. "More words followed, and I began their training, teaching them all that I had learned from my master, and soon I gave them all names: Leonardo, Michaelangelo, Donatello, and Raphael."

April looked around. "...I'm not dreaming, am I?" she asked, relenting.

Master Splinter shook his head. "I'm afraid not."

"Believe me, if you were dreaming, I would know." Cherry replied.

"Cherry!" The others gasped.

Cherry just shrugged innocently with a small smirk. April just looked around in amazement over what she and the group were just told.

"Now then, maybe you would like to tell us about yourselves?" Master Splinter offered to Cherry and her friends.

"Oh, uh, it's a bit of a long story and kind of complicated to explain." Cherry replied.

"In fact, I doubt that any of you would believe it yourselves," said Lionel. "But we'll give it our best shot!"

And so, each of the group told their tales to their audience.

"Well... That certainly is... A lot to take in..." April commented. "I think I've heard of this little guy's family though..." she then said as she reached out and pet Patch on the head. "101 Dalmatians... You little guys must have a long line to go behind a tree for the bathroom, huh?"

"Sometimes, yeah, but you should see my family's Kanine Krunchies trough whenever Nanny feeds us." Patch chuckled bashfully.

"I just can't get over talking animals." April remarked.

"I don't think it's the same for Master Splinter and these turtles, but my method is a special magic called Puppy Power that was founded and created from the original Pound Puppies," Patch replied. "I'm in a group with them from when I ran away from home because I felt like I couldn't fit into Puppy School after what happened on my first day."

"I missed him so much, but I was glad that he made some new friends." Atticus smiled softly.

"Your adventures sound amazing," April said to the group. "You certainly have bigger and more amazing stories than I ever have in my life."

"Well, maybe, but maybe not," Lionel replied.

Soon, the Turtles and the gang were on their way through the sewers, back towards April's place.

"Are you guys sure you know where you're going?" April asked as she went with them.

"11th and Bleecker?" Donatello replied. "Nope. This is only 9th Street. Get it?" he then asked with a laugh. 

"Yuck." April grimaced in horror and disgust.

* * *

They soon came to the end and the manhole cover was moved as April began to be lifted out of underground with help from the Turtles.

"Well, that's one way to travel." Cherry shrugged once they made it out of the sewers.

"I'd like to invite you all in, but I don't have anything to offer you except frozen pizza." April bashfully said to the Turtles as this looked like goodbye, but then...

"Let's go for it!" Mikey beamed as he rose right out in excitement.

"You said the magic word!" Donnie added.

"I'm gonna take a wild guess that you guys love to eat pizza?" Cherry narrowed her eyes cynically.

"Doesn't everybody?" Mikey and Donnie beamed in excitement.

"Toldja they don't eat flesh," Lionel remarked as he climbed out.

"Yeah, all right, I guess that was just paranoia talking." Cherry shrugged.

"So, you live in an antique store?" Mo asked April as the Turtles began to cheer about pizza.

"Well, above, actually," April replied as she began to lead the way. "What do you guys like on your pizza?"

"Just the regular stuff; flies, stink bugs," Mikey listed before April did a double-take in fear and disgust and he noticed that and smiled bashfully. "It was a joke."

April soon laughed nervously and they were on their way up into the woman's apartment. The redheaded girl was shown to be in the apartment and was trying to look for some money and food and she seemed to be wearing some sort of superhero outfit even though it wasn't Halloween.

"It's that kid!" Cherry called once they came into the apartment.

"Busted!" The kid said as she glared at them and went to escape out the window.

"All right, I have had enough of your shenanigans!" Cherry glared as she grabbed the younger girl from behind before she could dart out the window.

"Lemme go! LEMME GO!" The kid complained as she wiggled. "This is sexual harassment!"

"Knock it off, kid," Lionel remarked. "Just what were you doing rooting around in here?"

"Let me go!" The kid groaned as Cherry pulled her away from the window and wiggled a bit.

Cherry grunted as she fell flat on her back due to the kid's struggling and the kid's efforts to escape. Atticus soon magicked up some rope and used it, forcing the kid to sit down in a chair and tied her up.

"Now..." Cherry glared as she stood up. "Answer the question."

"I don't have to tell you guys nuthin'." The tomboy glared through her mask.

"Who are you?" Atticus demanded.

"And why are you wearing that costume?" Mo added. "A little too soon for Halloween, isn't it?"

"It's more than just a costume, I'm a superhero," The kid retorted. "Besides, I need to get food and money somehow. Now let me go!"

"Oh, real super: breaking into people's houses," Raph remarked. "Sounds more like a criminal to me!"

"Watch it, mutant freak!" The girl glared.

"Freak?!" Raph glared back, looking ready to fight. "Why I oughta--"

"No, no, no..." Atticus said, holding the ninja turtle back as best as he could.

"I'm here for justice, I just need money and food to do it." The tomboy firmly told them.

"Where are your parents?" April asked. "Why can't they help you?"

"Don't got 'em... Not anymore anyway," The tomboy shrugged. "My friends and I had our parents taken away from us months ago and we've been on our own ever since. You can call me Action Girl."

"...Yeah, I'm not gonna do that." Cherry said as she found a purple backpack and soon rummaged through it for some ID.

"Hey! Get outta my backpack!" The tomboy glared. "That's private property!"

"'Michelene Mazinsky'..." Cherry read the name aloud on a student ID. "What an interesting name."

"Okay, fine," The tomboy rolled her eyes. "But call me ' _Mike_ ' and not 'Michelene'... No one calls me Michelene and lives."

"I might as well call you mud," Raph spat, holding up his sai. " _These_ aren't just for show, ya know."

"Besides, one Mike is enough!" Michelangelo stated. "Two is just too many, dude!"

"Guys, take it easy, she's just a kid," April told the turtles. "Now, now, Mike... I'm sure we can all get along just fine."

Mike narrowed her eyes. "I'm sure we'll get along once I'm not tied up anymore." she then said.

"Hey, nothing personal, kid," Cherry told the tomboy. "But you did kinda steal food and money just to get your way."

"I have to survive somehow, me and my friends, Max and Melissa," Mike replied. "My job is usually to get the food cuz I'm the sneakiest kid in St. Albans. Not to mention I've had to live that way to survive in the past six months since my parents were taken from me. I might as well be an orphan."

"Well, we were gonna partake in some of Miss O'Neil's frozen pizza when we came in." Don stated.

"Pizza's always good." Mike said.

"You can have some if you promise not to steal anything," April told Mike. "I'm sorry about your parents, but you shouldn't have to steal, especially in what's going on in the world right now."

"Yeah, I know," Mike sighed. "I might owe you guys a slight apology."

"Slight?" Atticus raised an eyebrow.

"Don't get greedy." Mike retorted.

"You're just lucky I won't call the cops on you." April said as she decided to get the frozen pizza ready out of the freezer.

* * *

Eventually, the group was sitting at April's table, eating pizza and having fun, joking around, and whatnot.

"Maybe I'll fight Apollo, and maybe I won't, you know?" Michelangelo said as he began to do an impression of Sylvester Stallone in the _Rocky_ movies. "What do you think? AAAAAAAAAdriaaaaaan!"

The others began to laugh as they enjoyed themselves, though Raph was just staring into April's fish tank in the background.

"At least I understood that better than the real Stallone." Cherry smirked as she lightly applauded.

"Hey, I got another one!" Michelangelo then said.

"Oh, no, not Cagney." Raph rolled his eyes as he looked very irritable.

Mike even began to have a lot of fun with the Turtles as they ate even more pizza.

"You doity raaat! You killed my bruddah!" Mikey crowed, as the others laughed and Raph shook his head.

"That must be Splinter's favorite!" April chuckled.

The turtles glanced at her.

"It was a joke!" April replied and the others laughed in response.

The turtles shared a look with each other in silence before they broke down in laughter.

"Well, you guys certainly are interesting." Mike commented.

"We could probably say the same about you." Raph remarked.

"And speaking of which, we better get going," Leo suggested maturely as he got up and headed for the door. "He worries."

"Aww..." April frowned as she looked a bit sad to see the turtles go as they began to head out the door. "I don't know what to say. Will I ever see you guys again?" she then asked.

"Indubitably." Mikey reassured on the way out the door.

"That depends on how fast you stock your pizza." Leo added as a joke.

"Hopefully that means soon." Atticus smiled hopefully.

The turtles laughed to each other as they made their way down the sewers.

"She loved us!" Don exclaimed.

"It was my impressions!" Mike grinned.

"Sure, buddy, sure," Lionel replied. "Only because I helped!"

* * *

But when they re-entered their sewer lair, the place was in shambles, everything was torn asunder...and Splinter was gone!

"Splinter..." Don gasped.

Raphael's hands quivered as he clutched his sai and let out a scream of agony. 

"Oh, guys... I'm so sorry..." Cherry said as she felt bad for the turtles.

A man walked by the sewers, thinking maybe he heard a scream from underground before shrugging it off and continued to go off.

"Man... Where is Mike?" Max complained from in the alley. "She should've been back by now."

"Maybe she was kidnapped by those ninjas." Melissa gasped nervously.

"Well... I guess we can always try to make a new friend," Max shrugged as he walked off. "Maybe we could see what Janine is up to?"

Melissa felt unsure of what to do and soon walked with him. The Ninja Turtles soon looked at each other and decided to make another sudden visit to their new friend.

"What's wrong?" April asked in concern.

"Splinter..." Leo frowned softly.

Donnie bowed his head, looking ready to cry.

"This has to be painful, I'm sure..." Cherry said as she glowed with empathy. "I'd feel worse if I knew my parents were taken."

"Oh, same," Lionel replied. "But we'll be here to support them in their time of need."

"Of course," Cherry nodded. "It's part of our job."

"I guess you guys are better than nuthin'," Raph replied. "Though I'm still unsure about you."

"You have nothing to worry about, but we understand." Patch said softly.

Mike was shown to be on the couch.

"That kid's still here?" Cherry asked.

"We were talking and I think she's going to stay here until we find out more about her parents," April replied. "Who knows? Maybe whoever took Splinter and ruined the Turtles' home is the same person who took Mike's parents away from her."

"I dunno, seems kinda coincidental," Michelangelo shrugged. "That would make us connected somehow."

"Hey, I didn't choose this life, buddy." Mike replied.

Michelangelo just shrugged at her as things were going to change indeed.

"Well, whoever and whatever caused this, we're all going to get through it together as long as I breathe air." Cherry told the others as she tried to take a stand.

"That goes ditto for me," Lionel added.

"And me." Atticus nodded.

"Same here." Mo and Patch agreed.

"That's very admirable of you guys," Leo said. "I'd just hate to drag you into all of this craziness."

"Believe me, we've faced worse," Cherry reassured. "And like I said before, you can totally trust us."

"You've got our loyalty." Lionel nodded with a smile.


	4. Chapter 4

"I think I saw a diner on the way through town a few days ago..." Mo noted. "We could stop there."

"All right, let's go to the diner then." Lionel nodded.

"Better than just listening and feeling my stomach rebel against me." Cherry remarked.

"I'm so hungry, I could eat just about anything." Mike groaned.

"Don't worry, kid, you're in good hands," Cherry told her. "But you have to promise not to steal and you have to behave."

"Yeah, yeah, I got it." Mike rolled her eyes.

Cherry began to glance a bit darkly at the tomboy.

"Living on the streets makes you snarky like that," Mo assured Cherry. "Not your fault."

"Plus, she _is_ from New York." Patch added as the car pulled up to the nearby diner.

Everyone soon got out of the van and went inside.

* * *

"Fuhgetaboutit." Mike snarked in a Brooklyn accent.

Cherry just rolled her eyes and shook her head as they stepped inside of the diner.

"Hey, hey, hey!" The owner glared towards Patch as he served a man who sat at the bar of the diner. "No dogs allowed."

The man glanced over, playing with a key-chain which had a yellow car known as a 1972 Volkswagen Super Beetle Type 1 trinket on it as he waited for his own food.

"Sorry, buddy," said Atticus as he picked up Patch. "I'll bring you something when we come out."

Patch pouted and whined as he was tied up to a pole outside. Atticus smiled as he pet Patch before coming back inside the diner.

"Still playin' with that old thing?" The worker chuckled at the man at the bar. "When are you gonna accept that that girl's gone? She's out of your life?"

"I _will_ see her again, someday, somehow, I just know it," The man glared in determination. "Now where's my soup?"

"Just a minute, you'll get it when you get it," The worker said before giving glasses of water to the group along with some menus. "You kids thirsty?"

The group gave their drink orders and the worker nodded and went to take care of their drink orders before they would have their food orders.

"Alright, gonna get a pair of double cheeseburgers; one for here, the other to go," Lionel replied. "Also some fries with ketchup, and a chocolate shake. Anyone else?"

"I think I'll go for the same, maybe a third or fourth too without buns." Atticus added.

"This kid's hungry." The server chuckled at Atticus's order.

"Hmm... A couple of chicken sandwiches for me." Cherry decided.

"Do you have veggie burgers?" Mo asked.

"Yeah, but almost no one orders 'em," The server replied. "Guess you'll be one of the first."

"Please," Mo smiled. "And replace the fries with apple slices to stay healthy."

The server soon nodded as he wrote down their orders and soon walked off.

"Well, I think we'll be doing plenty of physical training after lunch," said Lionel. "That way, when we go back to New York, we'll be better equipped to fight those evil ninjas."

"Ooh, I am way ahead of you there, buddy," Atticus nodded. "No pain, no gain, in breaking a sweat."

"Easy for you to say." Cherry smirked.

"It'll definitely be nice getting back to Storybrooke to continue the vacation afterwards," Lionel stated. "I just know we're gonna need one when this is all done."

"Tell me about it..." Cherry nodded before pointing at the man at the bar table. "Otherwise we might end up like that guy... He looks like he hasn't slept in days."

The man looked around, a bit twitchily before he soon accepted the bowl of soup that was given to him and he began to tremble while eating it.

"He does look a bit disturbed about something," Mike commented. "I wonder what's up his butt?"

"Well, it doesn't concern us, so we should mind our own business unless he wants to talk about it on his own." Mo advised.

"Probably just jittery from caffeine pills or something." Lionel shrugged as Atticus came back in and sat down.

"And what will you be having?" Mo asked her boyfriend.

"I'll take a couple of burgers and I ordered some for Patch for without the buns." Atticus replied.

"I'm sure he'd appreciate that." Mo smiled.

As soon as the server came back, the group told him their orders, and then he went back to the kitchen to get on it. The group sat comfortably as they waited patiently for their food.

"I miss her so much..." The man at the bar sighed as he clutched his keychain. "I'd give anything to see her again."

"Uh, are you okay, sir?" Cherry asked.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, I-I'll be fine..." The man reassured. "I'm just thinking."

"That's dangerous." Cherry smirked.

"Very funny, kid," The man rolled his eyes then before sharply sighing. "I hope none of you have to endure the pain and torment I'm going through... But you don't wanna hear that story."

"Well, uh, it would be interesting while we waited for our food..." Atticus shrugged. "Why don't you talk about it a little? It might make you feel better."

"Well... Okay... Even if I don't know you kids..." The man replied before sharply sighing. "You probably don't even understand what I'm going through."

"Fine, we don't wanna hear it." Mike shrugged as she rolled her eyes.

"Behave yourself, kid," Cherry scolded before looking over at the man. "So, uh, what happened? Someone break your heart?"

"No," The man shook his head. "I was the heartbreaker... I left because I had to and I regret it happening... She was probably the greatest thing that had ever happened to me."

"Who?" Atticus spoke up. "If you don't mind us asking."

"Emma," The man sharply sighed as he explained his tragic story to them. "Her name was Emma... We met completely by accident, but it was love at first sight... It was like a fairy tale, but unfortunately, this fairy tale doesn't have a happy ending."

"Then what happened?" Mo frowned softly.

"Then something terrible happened... I promised her we could be together forever... But I couldn't stay with her forever," The man said as he looked depressed. "I just ran away out of her life like a coward leaving her all alone... I don't know where or how she is to this day, but I just know that... Now, she's out of my life."

"Well... I admit, that is rough," Lionel replied. "You must've been through quite a lot, sir."

"Yeah... I had a bit of a rough life starting out..." The man said to them. "You guys okay?"

"My parents were taken from me," Mike sighed sharply. "I don't know what happened to my friends' parents, but we're nearly living on the streets and trying to avoid Social Services cuz I know that my parents are alive."

"Huh... I've been through something like that once..." The man rolled his eyes a bit. "Only, my father abandoned me on purpose because he was a coward."

"What happened to your mom?" Mike then asked.

"Mike, you don't just ask people that." Cherry scolded.

"No, it's all right," The man replied. "I was told that my mother died, but she just left me and my father before he left me. I thought I found happiness waiting once I met the girl of my dreams... But then... Something happened... I'm not sure if I can talk about that though." he then added, looking a bit emotional.

"If you don't wanna talk about it, nobody's gonna force you." Atticus replied calmly.

"Thanks for understanding," The man replied before sighing a bit with a sad smile. "Talking about it though made it somewhat better."

"I'm sorry about what happened," Cherry said. "Even if I don't know the full story... But thank you for sharing with us."

"Yeah... I'm glad I shared too," The man smiled softly. "Thanks."

"No problem, sir." Atticus smiled back.

"Order for Table 4! With complimentary onion rings!" the server called as he came with the food to the table.

"Onion rings? Definitely radical." Lionel grinned.

"Eh, maybe just a couple." Cherry shrugged.

The man gave a small smile, though he sighed as he held onto the keychain and decided to let them in peace. The group beamed as they came to take their food and eat up while they still had the strength and energy to gain more.

* * *

Shortly after they ate their food, and took the leftovers back to the farmhouse.

"So you think that hockey guy and Miss O'Neil are getting along now?" Atticus asked.

"Probably getting along as well as a porcupine with a balloon." Cherry shrugged.

"I just hope Raphael will be okay once we come back." Mo remarked.

Once they pulled up, they heard shouting from the house as Don and Mikey ran into the house.

"What is it? What's going on?" asked Patch.

"It's Raph!" Mikey replied. "He finally woke up!"

"Oh, good!" Patch beamed. "He woke up!"

"See? He was fine." Cherry shrugged nonchalantly.

"Is he hungry?!" Atticus called out to Mikey.

"Yeah! Bring some food!" Mikey called back.

"I hope he doesn't mind some leftovers." Mike said to the others.

After three months out cold? I doubt he'd be too picky." Lionel replied as the group headed inside.

"Uh... Hey, guys..." Raph said to them.

"Hey, Raphael," Mike said to the red-masked turtle. "We got you some food."

"Ah... Great..." Raph nodded. "Pass it over."

"Hope you like onion rings," Mike replied. "One of nature's greatest discoveries next to chili cheese fries at a warm Saturday afternoon with your dad to watch The New York Yankees take down the Pittsburgh Pirates."

Raph soon accepted their leftovers and began to eat up.

"We were luckily able to make up too." Leo said to the group.

"More or less," Don replied. "But now we can get back to work!"

"Yeah!" The group soon cheered.

* * *

The turtles soon met up together after that and began to do their training.

"All right, guys, let's give them a helping hand." Atticus suggested.

"Sure thing, Master Edutainment." Cherry smirked.

Atticus rolled his eyes from Cherry's merciless teasing.

"You guys got some skills? This should be good." Don smirked playfully at their new friends.

And so, they got to sparring in the front yard, while April, Casey and Mike observed from the porch.

"Remember, Atticus, no crazy Saiyan stuff." Cherry warned her childhood best friend.

"All right, Cherry, I won't." Atticus promised.

"The Turtles are four once again and yet, still not whole," April's voice narrated as the turtles were sparring along with the help of their new friends who proved to be a lot stronger than expected. "A lingering doubt remains an unknown which they can't bear to face: their greatest fear."

* * *

That night, Michelangelo stood on the rooftop. " **SPLINTER...!** " he cried, his eyes alight with tears.

Mike hugged her knees as she stared out into the distance, wearing a pink night dress.

"It's getting late, kid," Cherry said as she came beside the young tomboy. "I think you should get some sleep."

"...Yeah, okay," Mike shrugged as she stood up and followed her inside. "Hey, uh... Do you think we'll find my parents?"

"I'm sure we will," Cherry nodded. "Like how I found mine."

"Huh?" Mike asked.

"It's a long story, I don't wanna bore you with the details," Cherry shrugged as she went to take Mike into bed. "It's not that interesting, really."

"Well, now I wanna know." said Mike. "C'mon, you can tell me."

"All right, get ready for bed and I'll tell you my story." Cherry said.'

Mike nodded as she went to brush her teeth and wash her face.

"So, still think Mike is annoying kid?" Atticus asked.

"Well, probably not as much right now," Cherry replied. "I am starting to feel hopeful for her sake that her parents aren't dead... Just like how we used to think."

Atticus nodded in bittersweet memory: the bitter part of feeling like an orphan with no parents to help out or look after them, but the sweet of meeting his best friend for life, even if she kind of teased him most of the time, sort of like a sister.

"I mostly feel bad for the Turtles," Cherry said. "Especially with whatever happened to Master Splinter... That's just rough."

"I can see why," Lionel replied. "They're not sure if one of the few who genuinely accepts them for who they are is dead or not. Not to mention they're afraid that if their father is gone... Then, they would be truly alone."

"You ever think that maybe, just maybe, at some point, you did have parents?" Patch asked Lionel curiously.

"Nope," Lionel replied. "Not even a little."

"Sounds like my other brothers and sisters other than the litter I came from," Patch said softly. "Sorry, Lionel."

"Eh, it's fine," Lionel shrugged. "No need to feel bad for me."

Mike soon went to climb in the bed that was made up for her, hugging an old yellow teddy bear.

"Nice bear." Cherry said.

"If you laugh, I'll kill you." Mike narrowed her eyes.

"Nice mouth," Cherry rolled her eyes. "No shame in keeping an old stuffed animal around and I should know."

"Yours was probably a vampire bat or a headless doll or something," Mike shrugged as she got comfortable. "So... Tell me about yourself..."

"Well, for one thing, when I was a baby, my parents gave me up," Cherry began to explain. "I had no idea why, I always thought they were dead, so I grew up in an orphanage. It was nice enough, but there was barely enough food or clothes to go around. I was bullied a bit though because I was often a loner and read a lot of books on my own... I felt like no one could understand me like in the books I read, especially Goosebumps which were my favorite books of all-time."

"Then what happened?" Mike asked.

"Then I met my friend Atticus," Cherry continued. "Bullies were making fun of him for wanting to be like a superhero when he grew up, so I decided to stand up for him... Then the bullies made fun of me too and we both realized that we didn't have to be alone... We could be alone together, and so we became good friends... He was like my brother. Eventually, we were adopted and we started a brand new life together to go on adventures with each other before we found our birth parents and were told about a prophecy that we were born under to go on these adventures and help out people from all over the place and thus, my life began."

"Huh..." Mike replied, feeling a bit less snippy.

"After we found a family to call our own for the first time, after a while... I started to feel funny..." Cherry said. "I had this instinct telling me that my parents were alive... Then Atticus felt the same way..."

"So what did you do?" Mike asked.

"We left a letter to say thank you for letting us help out and be apart of family, but we decided to go to see if we could find our true family," Cherry said. "We then rode on a train and ended up in this strange new place called Jurassic Park... After the craziness of Jurassic Park, I soon found my own family and decided to let Atticus stay with us and be apart of our family until he found his and the rest is pretty much history after all of that."

"Helluva story," Mike replied. "How'd you meet the other two?"

"I was visiting extended family and then Atticus befriended one of their puppies and that allowed him to soon meet Mo and they had a special adventure together," Cherry said. "I didn't think Mo would stick around forever, I thought she'd be a one-time friend you'd only hear about afterwards and never actually see again."

"Yeah, I had a friend like that named Janine," Mike replied. "She was pretty cool until she started playing Squash. My friends Max and Melissa usually teased her and ignored her after that."

"Hm..." Cherry rolled her eyes.

"So how about Lionel?" Mike asked.

"Lionel just... Sorta showed up once," Cherry said. "It's a pretty crazy story."

"There's sumthin' between you two, eh?" Mike asked.

"Yep," Cherry nodded. "...He knows how to cheer me up, and he can make the best of a bad situation."

"So, you're dating?" Mike asked.

"Me and Lionel? Well, yeah, more or less," Cherry replied before shuddering. "I couldn't date Atticus though."

"Fair point, I guess," Mike shrugged before yawning. "Sounds like you've really come a long way."

"I like to think that I have," Cherry said. "And since I help people, I'm going to help find your parents, no matter how impossible or difficult it becomes, like I'm going to help the Turtles find Master Splinter."

"Well... Thanks, Cherry," Mike replied as she began to nod off. "You and your buddies...are a-okay...by me...."

"Thanks, Mike," Cherry said. "Now I'll only help you if you promise to behave and no acting cocky or self-righteous around my friends."

"I'll do my best..." Mike said softly as she yawned and began to drift off to sleep. "G'night."

"Good night, Mike," Cherry nodded as she turned out the light and let the young tomboy get some sleep. "Sweet dreams."

* * *

The others looked over as Cherry came back.

"How is she?" Patch asked.

"Fine... Sleeping," Cherry said. "I think she's gonna cool down a little bit from now on."

"Let's hope so." Lionel replied.

Cherry nodded.

"Are you gonna be okay then?" Lionel asked.

"Yeah, I'll be fine," Cherry reassured. "Let's just get some rest. We had a long day today."

"That, we did," Mo agreed. "Good night, everybody."

Everyone then said good night to each other as they decided to get some sleep.


	5. Chapter 5

Meanwhile, Splinter, John, and Miranda were shown to be quite miserable while still being locked up and taken away from their families as the Foot Ninjas were hard at work around the prisoners and their captor, Shredder he called himself, looked in approval.

"Your empire flourishes, Master Shredder." Tatsu told him.

"What more from the rat?" asked Shredder.

"Nothing," Tatsu replied. "He will not speak."

"And the boy who led us to the Turtles...?"

"Still missing," Tatsu continued. "I do not understand...why do the Turtles still trouble you, master?"

"Something about the way you described their fighting, something familiar," Shredder replied as he narrowed his eyes dangerously. "Something... From the past."

* * *

The next day soon came as the others were with the Ninja Turtles outside as they continued more training.

"They're really coming along." Atticus observed as they watched the Ninja Turtles.

"They kinda have to," Cherry shrugged. "They've been doing this their whole lives."

"I wish I could be a Teenage Mutant Ninja Puppy," Patch smirked. "That'd be so awesome."

"I feel sorry for the mailman." Cherry snarked.

"C'mon, guys! Let's get back to it!" Atticus told the others.

"Welp, here we go." Lionel remarked as the group went off to do sparring of their own.

Atticus smiled as he took out his weight clothes from Goku and decided to put them on.

"Nice outfit, kid." Mikey commented.

"Thanks!" Atticus smiled. "I got these from Goku. He's my fighting mentor I told you about."

"I guess he teaches more than karate, huh?" Mike asked.

"Sure does," Atticus chuckled. "Let's just say you don't wanna get us both angry."

"Otherwise he might go 'Hulk' on you if you know what I mean," Cherry smirked as she got herself ready before bowing. "And now... For some Street Fighter/G-Rated Mortal Kombat training up against this crook who has Master Splinter."

"I'm so proud." Atticus approved as Cherry got herself ready.

* * *

The group continued to train together for a good 15 minutes after that, though Raph and Mikey went in to get some turtle wax for their brothers' shells, Don was off tinkering with some invention, and Leonardo went off to meditate.

"That reminds me of a young pup I know from back home." Patch commented from Leo's meditation.

"Weird to meet a talking dog... It's kinda cool though," Mike said to Patch. "How long have you been able to talk?"

"Oh, I guess the same as you," Patch shrugged. "'Mama', 'Dada', 'Kibble'... Ya just kinda pick it up. Plus it's from a special ability known as Puppy Power that has been passed down from the original Pound Puppies."

"Pound... Puppies...?" Mike blinked.

"You have so much to learn, O Red Clothed One." Patch smirked.

"Oh, brother." Mike rolled her eyes at the Dalmatian from that before she decided to try some meditation as well.

Suddenly, Leo's eyes shot open. He got up and ran towards the house.

* * *

Inside, the Turtles and a few of the rest of the group, such as Cherry, Atticus, and Patch were playing some sort of trivia board game together in the meantime.

"'What Russian novel, embracing more than 500 characters is set in the Napoleonic Wars'?" Raph read the card aloud.

" _War and Peace_." Don answered without thinking.

The others then groaned as that was the right answer.

"He's alive!" Leo called out as he ran into the room in excitement, unintentionally ruining the game for his brothers and new friends. "Splinter's alive!"

"We know, Leo. Of course he is," Don said softly, grabbing his shoulder a bit. "We all think he's alive."

"I don't think. I know." Leo retorted confidently.

The others then looked at each other from that.

"Splinter's alive," Atticus said. "You can feel it in your heart, can't you?"

"Yeah," Leo nodded. "You gotta believe me."

"Don't worry; I do," Atticus smiled. "I use my belief in the same way."

* * *

**_A FEW HOURS LATER..._ **

The Turtles and their friends were out in the forest, sitting around a campfire.

"Leo..." Raph told his brother. "If you dragged us all the way out here for nuthin'..."

"Don't worry; I came prepared!" Don grinned, holding up a stick and a bag of marshmallows.

"Put those away!" Leonardo spat.

"I'll take them if no one else wants them." Mo smiled bashfully.

"Same here." Patch added.

"Oh, brother." Cherry rolled her eyes playfully.

"Everybody, close your eyes and concentrate," Leonardo instructed the others as he went into a meditation pose. "Concentrate hard."

The group looked at each other before shrugging as they decided to join in with the Turtles as they did what their brother had asked of them. Nothing seemed to happen for a while, though the fire glowed brighter and even seemed to change color.

"Whoa... Is anyone else seeing this?" Cherry asked as the flames suddenly turned blue during the meditation.

In a flash, the visage of Master Splinter formed in the blue flames. "I am proud of you, my sons..." The wizened old rodent spoke in a tone warmer than the flames he stood in. "Tonight, you have learned the final and greatest truth of the Ninja: that ultimate mastering comes not from the body, but from the mind. Together, with your friends, there is nothing that your four minds cannot accomplish. Help each other, draw upon one another, and always remember the true force that binds you, the same as that which brought me here tonight. That which I gladly return with my final words: I love you all, my sons... My students... My family..."

And Splinter's image disappeared, with the flames returning to normal. Raph's eyes opened, and he gaped at Leo in astonishment. Michelangelo blinked, as his eyes were wet with tears. It was clear that they were no longer four individuals, but one family. Atticus wiped his eyes as he got a bit teary-eyed. Mo soon brought him into a hug as it was a very sad moment indeed. Cherry's body glowed briefly from the power of empathy as she bore a grim look on her face for all of their sakes. Patch let out a small howl at the moon as they all shared some level of sadness with each other for the loss of Master Splinter.

"I'm really sorry that this had to happen, guys," Cherry said to the others. "If I had a way, I'd go back in time and prevent it."

"Oh, Cherry, that's so thoughtful." Atticus said to his best friend in approval.

"Either way, your story will not go untold and justice will be brought out, one way or another." Cherry reassured.

"Aye," Lionel nodded, wiping his eyes. "So say we all."

They began their real work together early the next morning. Everything was different, everything was better; the Turtles found skills they never would have imagined they had.

* * *

"Hey, look!" Leo said. He turned his mask around so it was a blindfold and drew his katana from its sheath. "Okay, now attack me. All three of you. At once."

His brothers looked at him as if he'd lost his shell.

"Gimme a break, Leo," Raph said.

"You'll get hurt!" Don told him, truly concerned.

"Come on!" Leo said, tapping Raph on the shoulder with the side of the blade to egg him on.

"Knock it off! That hurt!" Raph said.

Leo tapped him again, harder. It was enough to ignite Raphael's short fuse. He drew his sai and attacked. Leo defended himself, knocking the sai out of Raph's hands without hurting him at all. It was as if Leo could see right through the material, but he couldn't. They all knew that. Then all three attacked. Leo used his newfound skills to repel the attacks, quickly disarming all of his brothers. When his work was done, he turned his mask around again and smiled triumphantly.

His brothers were impressed. "Radical!" Mikey said.

"I think you're gonna hafta teach us this one." Donatello said.

"Splinter did the teaching," Leo said. "I'll just show you how."

It was the ultimate weapon: the sixth sense. It was mind over matter, and the Turtles trained to be able to use it in concert with all their other weapons. They trained hard. It took time to hone their skills, but as they worked they learned, and as they learned, they became even more united. April and Casey couldn't believe the change in their friends. It was unity and it was love. It was so dramatic that Casey and April couldn't help being affected by it themselves. Their own anger seemed to dissolve. Their bickering stopped. Their friendship began.

* * *

A few days later, April and Casey were sitting on the farmhouse porch, relaxing and chatting. Four Turtles suddenly appeared before them. They looked very different from the four Turtles who had arrived at the farm a few short weeks earlier. These four were healthy, strong, confident. Once again they were the indomitable Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The next morning came bright and early. A rooster was heard crowing before a red and white sneaker was thrown at it to shut it up as Mike was shown to be still be trying to sleep.

"So you actually played professionally?" April asked Casey as they sat on the better functioning porch swing together.

"Before I got hurt," Casey nodded. "Less than a year.

"I'm sorry." April said softly as that had to be devastating.

"So was I." Casey remarked.

"Uh, excuse us?" Cherry's voice spoke up, startling April and Casey and bringing them out of their private discussion.

As the two looked up, they saw that the Turtles were standing before them. They looked very different from the four Turtles who had arrived at the farm a few short weeks earlier. These four were healthy, strong, confident. Once again they were the indomitable Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Leonardo spoke for them all: "It's time to go back."

"YEAH!" The group cheered triumphantly.

"So, you guys are gonna help?" Raph asked the group.

"We're more than just mere and ordinary kids," Cherry replied before looking over. "Guys? Do you think we should tell them?"

"Oh, alright; if you insist." Lionel shrugged.

"Sure!" Atticus grinned.

The Turtles looked at each other curiously. Cherry soon waved her hands and magic shot all around, changing herself and her friends into their superhero forms.

"Whoa!" The Turtles gasped in shock as they didn't expect that.

"Greetings, citizens," Lady Gothika said. "My name is Lady Gothika... These are my friends: Saiyaman, Saiya Dog, Nature Girl, and Bat-Mite. Perhaps you've heard of us."

"Eh... Maybe a few times on the radio, yeah..." Raph said. "Those guys are you?"

"Indeed," Lady Gothika replied. "We work and train under the older members in The Justice League and sometimes, if we're lucky, honorary members of the Teen Titans."

"It's a long story." Bat-Mite replied. "But it's a _very_ good one."

"Well, this should make things interesting, especially once we come in and save Master Splinter," Leonardo said to them. "I do hope that we can trust you."

"Of course you can," Nature Girl smiled. "Friendship is magic after all."

"Oh, brother." Raph rolled his eyes at that quote.

"Be nice." Leonardo advised.

"Yeah, yeah..." Raph scoffed. "Sorry. So, you're a superhero too?" he then asked Saiya Dog.

"Sure am and proud of it!" Saiya Dog beamed. "There's no bond like a Superboy and his Superdog if ya know what I mean."

"Okay, okay, just keep the corny stuff to a minimum." Raph remarked.

"That'll be a challenge for these two." Lady Gothika smirked.

"Hmph." Saiyaman and Saiya Dog pouted.

"Either way, we're gonna help you out," Nature Girl promised the Ninja Turtles. "We'll stay by your side and help save Master Splinter for you."

"That would be our greatest honor." Leonardo nodded.

And so they began their journey back to Manhattan.

* * *

Eventually, Cherry was shaking Mike awake.

"Ugh... Go away... I don't have to go to school today..." Mike complained. "It's too early for this."

"Wake up, Mike," Cherry told the young tomboy. "We're going back into the city."

"Huh?" Mike blinked before she sat up and rubbed her eyes. "Really?"

"Really, really," Cherry nodded. "Let's go get your parents back."

Mike soon smiled as she looked hopeful at that news and they soon got on the van and drove back to the city as quickly as possible... Legally, for that matter.

* * *

That night as they got back into the city, it was dark and pouring down rain as the group changed into their superhero forms to help out the Ninja Turtles so that they could save Master Splinter and Mike's parents.

"We're on the home stretch now." Lady Gothika said to the others.

"New York, New York... A shell of a town," Mikey commented as he was reading one of his Justice Force comic books on the drive home. "I can't wait to get back home."

"You and me both," Raph nodded. "I was thinking of getting myself a motorcycle."

"This isn't bad," Casey smiled as he took a look at the building in front of the manhole cover as the others went that way as he took in the sights. "Nice place, guys."

"You coming or not, Mr. Jones?" Mike asked as she followed the others into the sewer as Casey turned around, a bit shocked, but mostly dismayed and disgusted.

Casey groaned as he soon followed them down the manhole.

"For a second there, I thought that was gonna be a fifth turtle." Cherry said to the side.

"Aw, come on, Cherry, a fifth turtle?" Atticus replied.

"You never know." Cherry shrugged as they soon went down.

"The possibility _is_ plausible." Donatello shrugged.

"Great; just great," Casey remarked. "First it's the farm that time forgot, and now _this_. Why don't I ever fall in with people who own condos?"

"Too obvious." Cherry snarked as she got her Action Girl costume ready.

"Very funny." Casey rolled his eyes at her.

They soon walked further in, though Casey didn't change his tune much about staying down here. "

"Guess it's hard to get good maid service in a sewer," Casey complained. "Maybe you guys should try Roto-rooter."

"Would you quit complaining?" April replied. "It's just for the night."

"I still don't see why we don't get started right away." Raph growled a bit.

"It's been a long drive, Raph, and before we go out advertising to The Foot that we're back, we could all use a few hours' sleep." Leonardo advised his hotheaded brother.

Patch's left ear soon lifted up as he turned his head, looking concerned while the others were talking.

"You're right, I'm just--" Raph sighed.

"Guys, shh," Patch shushed urgently. "I hear something."

"Whaddya mean?" asked Lionel.

"Something... In the back..." Patch said as he turned around before growling.

* * *

They soon came over to the doors that were in the back and the doors were ripped open as they all looked ready to fight.

"Don't shoot!" A familiar young voice cried out nervously.

"Please, we have families!" A girl's voice added.

"I have a pet fish!" A second boy's voice added.

"Danny?" April called.

"I don't think it's loaded, kids." Raph scoffed once they saw that it was a harmless trio of kids.

"Danny, what are you doing here?" April asked as she recognized the boy.

"Max? Melissa?" Mike asked. "Is that you?"

"Hey, where'd they come from?" Don asked the others.

"Beats me." Mikey shrugged.

"We ran away from home." Danny said to them as he was shown with Mike's best friends, Max and Melissa.

"Your father's gonna have kittens." April complained once she saw Danny as Max and Melissa came out to see Mike.

Patch looked confused from that term.

"We thought you were dead," Max said to Mike. "We haven't seen you coming back in such a long time."

"I'm fine, guys, it's cool." Mike told them.

"So these are your friends?" Lionel asked.

"Yep," Mike nodded.

"Max and Melissa... Well, I guess it's nice to meet you," Cherry said to the two kids. "Even if you kinda abandoned your friend."

"What?! We would never do that," Melissa defended. "We're not shallow."

"...Yeah, I guess not," Cherry replied. "But you probably shouldn't have come. It's dangerous this time of night."

"We better call their parents," April said as she went to go towards the phone. "Does this thing work?"

"Please don't call," Danny begged. "Just let us stay here the night with you. Me at least, I don't know about those other two kids who know the Red Kid. We can call in the morning. I promise."

"Danny, listen--" April let out a frustrated sigh.

"Hold on. What is all this talk about spending the night down here?" Casey spoke up.

Don smirked as he had a suspicion about Casey. "You're a claustrophobic." he then said.

"Not funny." Cherry complained.

"Do you want a fist in the mouth?" Casey complained as Donatello smirked a bit. "I've never even looked at another guy before."

"No, claustrophobic means that you're afraid of enclosed areas," Cherry explained. "I came down with a crippling case of it ever since my big and slobbery aunts crowd me and hug me tightly like a boa constrictor on Thanksgiving and cover my face in slobbery, wet kisses and I have about 10 seconds of oxygen left."

"Afraid? What, me? Is that what you think?" Casey scoffed in defense as he backed up away from the Turtles. "I don't have to take this stuff about being afraid. I'm going to sleep in the truck."

"And who says this wasn't a learning experience?" Lionel remarked as Casey made his way up the manhole ladder. "Anyways... Let's rest up and take a breather."

The others nodded in agreement as they had a rather long day today, especially with driving all the way from the country to back into the city. The group then began to get settled as Danny was taking a look at April's sketches of the Ninja Turtles.

"Nice," Max commented. "I like art too, it's the only subject I get an A in."

"Max tends to draw manga-like artwork." Mike informed.

"Cool." Atticus smiled.

"These are good," Danny approved as he looked at April's drawings. "Do you think maybe I could have one?" he then asked.

"Sure. Why not?" April allowed.

Mikey soon yawned as he came by. "I could really go for a little deep-dish action right about now." he then said, suddenly starting to get hungry.

"We had some pizza down here the other day," Danny replied. "There might be some left over."

"Awesome!" Mikey gushed as Don went over to a pizza box on the table and opened it. "...Well?"

"Depends." replied Don.

"On what?"

"On if you like penicillin on your pizza."

"I know I sure don't!" Lionel spoke up.

Don and Mikey soon closed the leftover pizza box and hummed a "Funeral March" as they put down the pizza to rest in "pepperonis". Cherry just shook her head and rolled her eyes in the background.

"We could always get new pizza?" Atticus suggested with a shrug.

"It's late," Raph replied. "All the places are closed by now, anyway."

"So you guys think you're gonna be okay?" Atticus asked.

"Ah, we'll be fine," Raph reassured. "Let's just get settled and ready for bed."

"Fair point." Atticus then said.

* * *

And at that, while Casey got ready to sleep in his truck, everyone else got settled in the sewer lair and decided to get some sleep after a long day. Voices of Shredder and Master Splinter began to echo in Danny's head as he did his best to sleep, though it began to make him toss and turn a little bit. This eventually got to him and he decided to sneak out of the sewer that night while everyone was asleep. Casey was asleep in the van when he saw Danny heading out. Curious, he went to see just where the boy was headed.

"Going somewhere?" A voice asked.

Casey flinched and sharply turned around to see Cherry.

"Hi." Cherry said simply.

"Jeez! You scared me!" Casey complained. "Anyway, I'm going after Danny."

"Cool..." Cherry replied. "I thought something interesting was going on tonight rather than just sleeping."

And so, the both of them made their way after Danny when he headed down to the Foot Clan hideout. Danny soon came into a room that looked like a hangout for young people around his age. Casey and Cherry stepped inside as some music began to play and there were even arcade games and a pool table.

"Looks like a rec room..." Cherry muttered to herself. "Well, I won't lie, that's kinda cool."

Casey and Cherry soon looked around and secretly followed after Danny, trying to be inconspicuous.

Danny soon came into a room and found the locked up rodent along with a familiar black-haired and redheaded woman and man who soon looked over to see the boy.

"I have not seen you for days." Master Splinter greeted Danny.

"I've been down at my hideout a lot lately." Danny covered up.

"And do you now hide from your surrogate family as well?" John asked.

Danny shrugged as he soon sat down on a box in front of them. "I don't know." he then said.

"I, too, once had a family, Danny," Master Splinter told the boy and soon began to tell his backstory to him which sounded very profound and important. "Many years ago, I lived in Japan, a pet of my master Yoshi mimicking his movements from my cage and learning the mysterious art of ninjitsu. For Yoshi was one of Japan's finest shadow warriors. His only rival was a man named Oruku Saki and they competed in all things, but none more fiercely than for the love of a woman, Tang Shen. Shen's love was only for my master, and rather than see him fight Saki for her hand. She persuaded Yoshi to flee with me to America, but Saki vowed vengeance. I remember it well as my master returned home to find his beloved Shen lying on the floor. And then he saw her killer. Saki wasted no words, and during the struggle, my cage was broken. I leapt to Saki's face, biting and clawing, but he threw me to the floor and took one swipe with his katana, slicing my ear. Then he was gone, and I was alone." he then concluded.

"Whatever happened to this Oroku Saki?" Danny asked after a few moments of silence.

"No one really knows," Splinter informed softly. "But you wear his symbol upon your brow."

Danny soon touched the band he wore on his head as he nodded at the wise rat.

"You're a good kid," Miranda smiled sadly. "I just wish we could see our daughter again. I feel that I was taken to be groomed as a bride."

"And I can either help and fight or die," John added. "I'd just give anything to see our daughter again."

"I'm so worried about her," Miranda sighed and pouted. "I think she should be sent somewhere for her own protection. I heard that her school is doing a foreign exchange program... Maybe if we survive and get out of here, we could sign her up if she's interested in the offer."

* * *

In another room, Tatsu was taking his rage out on some of the other Foot recruits, one of which he killed during his fit of anger. Danny was watching through a nearby window and was mortified. Just what had he gotten himself into?

 _"What_ are you doing in there, boy?" A dark voice asked, startling him as he removed his band from his forehead.

"Nothing." Danny said innocently as Splinter, John, and Miranda began to look fearful and concerned for the boy.

Shredder looked down to the floor to see the band before he looked at Danny, nearly having murder in his eyes. "Where have you been?" he then demanded.

"Nowhere..." Danny said, trying to stay brave, but he was very scared right now.

"You're lying to me..." Shredder glowered as he held out his metal claws as Miranda winced, fearing for the poor boy, but luckily he didn't get cut, though he saw that Danny had a folded up piece of paper and soon decided to see what it was. "And you're hiding something as well." he then added.

The paper was shown to be a sketch of Leonardo that was drawn by April.

"They're back!" Shredder growled to Tatsu and the two men soon took off at that information.

"That can't be good..." Miranda winced sheepishly.

"Oh, my darling." John said softly as he hugged Miranda.

Miranda sniffled as she tried very hard not to cry, but it was very hard, especially in their new living conditions.

"Master." Tatsu spoke.

"There will be no mistake this time," Shredder replied firmly. "I go myself. And the rat... Kill it and our 'special visitors'..."

Danny looked wide-eyed and scared and soon took off running as did a couple of Foot Ninjas-in-training. However, Danny was suddenly pulled aside by a ninja, who covered his mouth.

"Recognize me now, kid?" asked Casey as he unmasked himself. "What's the deal?"

"You gotta come with me!" Danny exclaimed.

"Whattya talkin' about, come with you?" asked Casey.

"They're gonna kill Splinter, and Mike's parents!" Danny replied.

Casey nodded before looking around and running with Danny. Another Foot Ninja was shown before the mask was removed to show Cherry.

"Whoa... You guys are good." Danny commented.

"I've been doing this for years." Cherry smirked proudly.

Unfortunately though and unknown to them, many actual Foot Ninjas swarmed in and began to sneak into the sewers while they were gone.

* * *

Of course, it all depends on who it was truly unfortunate for. After all, the Foot Ninjas were just a bunch of delinquents and street toughs. Cherry had plenty of adventure experience and lots of combat training.

The Foot Ninjas looked around as they seemed to be alone.

"These guys sure do look a little... STEEEAMED~" Mo's voice chuckled.

Suddenly, steam began to fill the air and the Foot Ninjas looked around before they were blinded by the steam. And to make matters worse, the Ninja Turtles and Cherry's friends began to beat up and thrash against their unwanted company with no problem as they all had proper training due to their adventures and experiences, especially Mo who had spent most of her life living on the streets and had to learn how to look out for herself in case she met dangerous people on the streets. Mikey and Raph smiled once the Foot Ninjas were defeated and the steam vent was soon turned off.

"No sweat, eh, guys?" Patch chuckled.

Sep 24"You know what they say: if you can't take the heat, stay outta the sewers!" Lionel declared.

"Gosh," said Raph. "I do hope there's more of them."

As if on cue, some more Foot Ninja came around the corner.

Raph grinned with devilish glee. "...GOOD!" he exclaimed.

* * *

**_MEANWHILE..._ **

Danny and Casey went back to free Mike's parents and Splinter. Upon seeing the man-sized rodent in chains, Casey simply gave a shrug; this was no longer the weirdest thing he'd ever seen.

"You must be Mike's parents." Cherry said to the couple.

"Oh, you know our daughter Michelene?" John asked.

"It's a long story," Cherry replied. "Anyway, we're here to rescue you and Master Splinter."

"Oh, thank you," Miranda said in relief. "It's so good to finally get some help from the outside world."

"Well, where are the keys?" Casey soon asked casually.

Danny soon found the keys and gave them to Casey and he soon unlocked the latches on Splinter to free him so that they could go as Cherry soon did the same for John and Miranda's cell.

"Who are you?" Splinter asked the two strangers who came in to see him.

"The name's Casey Jones: A friend." Casey introduced himself while freeing the rather large rodent.

"And everybody calls me Cherry and now it's time to get out of here." Cherry added.

However, their escape was soon interrupted by Tatsu and several other punks.

* * *

Meanwhile, the Turtles and the others were busy beating up Foot Ninjas. Tatsu grunted angrily at Casey.

Casey grunted back. "You know, a little Primatene might just help to clear that up there," he remarked, but Tatsu punched him in the face, knocking him over. "That's going to cost you, Tinkerbell." POW! Another to the face. "I don't think that you're listening." POW! "You know, I'm starting to pick up on a little language barrier thing going here."

"Gee, ya think?" Cherry remarked.

Tatsu soon continued to beat down on Casey with punches and kicks.

"All right, let's go!" Cherry glared as she jumped behind Tatsu and grabbed him by his shoulders. "Just you and me, pal!"

Tatsu just scoffed, shoving Cherry off, and kept on whaling on Casey, who felt around until he got hold of a golf club.

"FORE!" Casey then shouted, taking a swing and sending Tatsu flying into a bunch of boxes. "I'll never call golf a dull game again!"

"Heh... Speak for yourself, Jones." Cherry remarked.

"What're we just standing here for?!" One of the others in the back huffed. "Let's get 'em!"

"Oh, you want some of this, punk?" Cherry challenged.

"You wanna be first, Junior?" Casey added as he held the golf club close like a lethal weapon.

"We have a loyalty to the Shredder!" The kid retorted firmly.

"Is he really your friend though?" Cherry asked as she crossed her arms firmly.

"The Shredder uses you!" Splinter declared. "He poisons your minds to obtain that which he desires! ...He cares nothing for you or the people you hurt!"

The kid looked hesitant. "....We're a family," he replied.

"Family? Is that what you said, family?" Casey asked. "You call this here..." he gestured around. "...And _that_ there..." he gestured to Tatsu's unconscious body. "...Family?!"

"You kids have a lot to learn," Cherry said. "This is for your own good."

"Come on, let's go." Casey shook his head and waved before gesturing for Cherry to follow him.

The group began to look a little thoughtful over what was just said to them as Casey came to Splinter and Danny as Cherry checked on the Mazinsky couple.

"Let's get you guys out of here." Cherry suggested.

"You have a lot more heart in your soul than you think you do or one would expect from you." Splinter said to Cherry.

"Heh... Well... I try anyway..." Cherry shrugged bashfully.

Casey and Danny soon helped Splinter get out as he was unable to walk on his own properly at the moment.

"Let's get you back to your daughter." Cherry told John and Miranda as she helped them out.

* * *

Back in the sewers, the Foot Ninja were sent scrambling for their lives out of the nearest manhole, with the Turtles hot on their trail.

"Hey dudes, where ya going?" Mikey asked as he and Raph slammed into one with their shells, knocking him out. "Hey, Don; guess he's suffering from shell shock!"

"Too derivative," Don informed his brother.

Lionel bounced onto one Foot Ninja's head, clobbering him.

"I guess we can really _SHELL_ it out!" Mikey tried again.

"Too cliché," Don criticized.

"Nice hit though." Atticus commented.

"Yeah, nice hit," Mikey nodded before grinning. "Heh... I guess it was a SHELL of a good hit!"

"I like it!" Don approved as he laughed. "Step it up!"

"Awesome!" Mikey beamed as they kept fighting.

"Heh, you guys are pretty easy compared to muggers and street thugs." Mo smirked as she fought and tied up some Foot Ninjas with her inescapable vines.

"Great work on the vines, Mo," Atticus beamed before sighing. "I do hope that Cherry's okay."

"Ah, I'm sure she's fine," Mo replied before punching someone who tried to grab her. "Hey! Don't sneak up on me like that!"

One of the Foot Ninjas soon climbed up a ladder as Raph was beating down a whole group and he was now next.

"Where do you think you're going?" Patch smirked before he let out a very loud Super Bark.

"Good dog!" Raph congratulated Patch, who chuckled at that.

"Wait for me!" Mikey soon called out and laughed as they all worked together, making it more fun than work against the Foot Ninjas. "God, I love being a turtle!"

"It certainly does seem interesting." Atticus commented as he shot Kai Blasts.

The fighting lasted for quite a while on the rooftops as the Ninja Turtles joined together with their new friends and they seemed to be the last ones standing as the Foot Ninjas were lying flat on the ground in defeat.

"Guys, I think that was the last of them." Mo said, panting heavily though.

"Aw, no more?" Raph asked, sounding disappointed.

Suddenly, a familiar figure landed in front of the group. As the Foot Soldiers dragged themselves away, the Turtles eyed their unusual new opponent.

"...Does anybody have any idea who or what that is?" asked Leo.

"I dunno," replied Mikey. "but I'll bet it never has to look for a can opener!"

"You fight well, in the old style..." the mysterious man declared. "...but you've caused me enough trouble. Now you face....the Shredder."

"'The Shredder'?" Don asked, incredulous.

"Maybe all that hardware is for making coleslaw?" Mikey joked.

"Guys? I don't think this is the time for jokes." Atticus warned.

"Re-lax, whatever this dude's deal is, we totally got it." Mikey chuckled.

"Ah, I got him..." Raph reassured as he soon ran towards the mysterious man with his Sai.

Shredder soon took out a wooden staff and blocked the hits from Raph and soon sent the red-masked turtle down on the floor after a few moments.

"Whoa..." Atticus said.

"This guy's pretty good." Mo had to admit.

Leo soon decided to go next only to get sent straight to the floor without much of a fighting chance.

"I have a bad feeling about this," Patch shuddered. "I just hope that he doesn't have any familiar new friends."

"Dude, not every single bad guy we fight is gonna be affiliated with Sombra somehow," Lionel replied, rolling his eyes. "That just makes it boring."

Mike and Don looked at each other.

"Match ya for it?"

And so they played Rock-Paper-Scissors, with Mikey losing the match, and getting out his nunchuks.

"Oh, Mikey." Patch winced nervously for the orange-masked turtle.

* * *

Meanwhile, Casey, Cherry, Danny, John, Miranda, and Splinter were coming down the street together, quietly and diligently.

The Foot Ninja followers were also shown to be from behind as they decided to come with the rescue group.

"So much for family, huh?" Casey sighed.

April soon came out of the sewer and Mike came out too, both of them helping each other out.

"Oh, Mike? I've got a surprise for you." Cherry said to the young tomboy.

"An autographed, super rare and vintage Action Guy comic book?" Mike smirked.

"Uh... No..." Cherry rolled her eyes.

"Michelene!" John and Miranda gasped.

"Mom! Dad!" Mike beamed as she soon ran to them and they all hugged each other. "I thought I'd never see you guys again."

Cherry couldn't help but smile a little; for so long Mike had been without her parents, but now they were all together again.

* * *

**_BACK ON THE ROOF..._ **

The Turtles were exhausted from their fight, as Mo, Lionel, and Atticus each tried to take Shredder on, but he had the upper hand against each of them.

"Okay... At which point...did we begin losing control of the situation...?" Mikey panted.

"Maybe someone oughta tell him... That _we're_ the good guys here?" Lionel wheezed as he landed next to them, covered in claw marks.

"Any thoughts?" Mo asked as she was aching a bit as even Shredder proved himself capable of hurting a girl regardless of the opposite gender standard.

"I've only got one thought," Leo spoke up as he pointed his blade towards the dangerous villain. "This guy knows where Spinter and Mazinsky's parents are!"

"So are we gonna try to fight again?" Patch asked.

"I guess we have no choice," Atticus groaned. "Even with my special strength can't easily save us this time."

The group soon got back up and they all charged together to take on Shredder once more while everyone else waited on the ground while watching the rooftop up ahead of them.

"Looks like your boys are going to need a little--" Casey was about to suggest to the former Foot Ninjas before he suddenly noticed that someone was missing. "Where did he go?" he then asked.

"I should probably go too," Cherry suggested. "It seems that my friends need some help as well."

And so, each turtle launched into one-on-one combat against Shredder, though he managed to defeat each of them.

* * *

Back on the ground, there were a few Foot Soldiers trying to make their way up to the roof.

Casey grinned. "Oh, good... Leftovers!" he exclaimed as he ran over to a nearby unattended dump truck and got it started.

The Foot Ninjas climbed up, though Casey backed the truck up against the ladder, making them shake and fall suddenly.

Casey soon jumped out of the truck and began to fight the Foot Ninjas who came to fight him back for what he did without mercy. "It's a talent." he then smirked at himself, proving to be victorious.

Cherry soon climbed up and jumped over to behind her friends. The group glared, bracing themselves to fight until they saw who it was.

"Oh! Cherry!" Atticus smiled as he hugged his best friend, lifting her off the ground a little in the hug. "It's so good to see you... I know that you hate hugs, but I'm so glad that you're okay."

"Yeah, I was fine," Cherry reassured. "You guys look a little worse for wear though."

"Where's Splinter?" Raph asked Shredder.

The man smirked under his mask. "Ah... The rat. So it has a name..." he began. "...It _had_ a name."

Leo stomped to the front. " **YOU LIE!!** " he bellowed.

Shredder stood firmly. "... _Do_ I?" he asked smugly.

Leonardo gritted his teeth, and let out a cry of rage as he charged at Shredder, who tripped him up, and pinned him down, the business end of his spear at his throat.

"He DIES!" Shredder declared. "Weapons!"

The Turtles glanced at their weapons, not trusting him to keep his word.

"NOW!" Shredder ordered.

And so the Turtles reluctantly threw their weapons down, knowing Shredder had them over a barrel.

"No, guys, don't listen to him!" Cherry cried out.

"We have to..." The Turtles told her, emotionally devastated.

"Fools," Shredder mocked darkly. "The three of you might have overpowered me with the loss of but one. Now your fate will be _his_."

"NOOOOO!" The Turtles soon cried out as this looked very bad for them.

The group felt panicked and concerned of what to do to help, but luckily, someone came to help them out.

"Hmph." Splinter glared as he was shown.

"See? There he is." Cherry said to the others.

"You found him?" Atticus asked.

"It's a long story." Cherry nodded.

"Splinter!" The Turtles gasped in relief once they saw the large and paternal rodent.

Leo soon rolled off of the floor and joined his brothers once they saw him, safe and sound.

"Yes, Oroku Saki, I know who you are," Splinter glowered as he addressed Shredder. "We met many years ago in the home of my master: Hamato Yoshi."

At that moment, it dawned on Shredder, as he removed his mask to reveal his scarred face.

"...It's him!" Raph exclaimed.

"You..." Shredder felt the claw marks on his cheek. "Now I will finish what I began all those years ago!"

Taking his spear, he charged at Splinter, who used Mikey's nunchaku to grab the spear and send Shredder flying over the edge of the building, leaving him to dangle.

"Death comes for us all, Oroku Saki," Splinter told his longtime foe. "But something much worse comes for you. For when you die, it shall be..."

Just then, Shredder took out a kunai and tried to stab Splinter. Startled momentarily, Splinter grabbed the knife, causing him to drop the spear and send Shredder tumbling to his doom, screaming all the way into the back end of a garbage truck.

"...without honor," Splinter finished.

Casey strolled casually over to the garbage truck's compactor lever and leaned on it. "Oops!" he called out, as the compactor came down, crushing Shredder and his helmet.

"Ooh!" Cherry and her friends let out a collective groan and wince, though justice was properly served.

Mike hugged her parents in warm embrace as the Ninja Turtles soon did the same with Splinter as he was their father figure after all.

"Kids." Splinter smiled as he hugged the Turtles back after their very long separation from each other.

The Foot Ninjas and the Mazinsky family on the ground soon looked over as they heard sirens ringing in the distance as the police rushed right over.

"The police and the news are here." Mike remarked.

"Oh, my." John said softly as he stood with his family.

* * *

Foot Ninjas were soon put under arrest by the police as the news crew began to get ready.

"All right, guys, let's get to it." Charlie said to the news crew as the adventure began to wrap up.

"April, here." Danny soon said as he gave April some money as he walked by.

"What's this for?" April asked, accepting it, but was curious.

"It's something I owe you," Danny told her before he ran off. "Trust me."

"Danny? Danny!" Charles exclaimed as he ran over to his son. "God, where have you _been_?! I've had the whole city looking for you! ...Are you alright? Are you okay, Danny?!"

"Dad, it's okay, really," Danny replied. "I'm fine. And Dad? It's just 'Dan' now... Okay?"

"Dan?" his father asked incredulously. But he was just happy his son was safe.

"What have you been up to, freak?" Chief Sterns glared at one fallen Foot Ninja as he began to bark orders while storming through the crowd. "I want some stretchers in here. Get some doctors. On the sidewalk. Don't move. Get those kids over there. Don't let them get away. I wanna talk to 'em."

"Aw, jeez, this guy." Cherry rolled her eyes as she recognized the man in uniform.

April was soon seen walking off as her boss followed behind her after he had reunited with his son.

"April, I told you there were circumstances," Charles said as he followed after the woman. "I really need you to cover this."

"I don't know, Charles," April shrugged with a smirk. "Did you know that May Williams over at Channel Five has her own office?"

"You can have an office." Charles offered.

"She has her own corner office."

"You can have a corner office."

"But she's also one of the highest-paid field reporters in New York City."

"Now you are."

April soon looked over to see if he was serious. Charles soon nodded to her to show that he was.

"You are a tough negotiator, Charles." April then said with a small smirk.

"Well, that was something." Cherry shrugged to the others.

"Well, never let it be said that April O'Neil doesn't know how to play hardball," Lionel chuckled.

"I do hope it's a brighter future for April from now on." Cherry said.

"I'm sure that it will be." Atticus nodded, feeling quite sure of himself as usual.

"I want some answers," Chief Sterns glowered impatiently. "What in God's name happened out here tonight? Somebody better talk to me."

The former Foot Ninjas in-training looked at each other as they saw the man.

"...Go check out the east warehouse over at Lairdman Island," One of the kids soon spoke up truthfully. "You'll get your answers there."

"Let's go." Chief Sterns soon nodded.

* * *

Soon, things seemed to be wrapping up nicely for everybody, especially as Mike was being brought back home by her missing parents who seemed to be talking to her about a foreign exchange program going on at her school.

"I've been looking all over for you." Casey said as he soon found April as she looked at her reflection with the news van mirror.

"Casey, hi." April greeted as she glanced at him.

"'Hi'?" Casey blinked, a little offended as he gestured at his scars and bruises. "I look like I just called Mike Tyson a sissy. And all you just say is hi?"

"You don't need an ambulance, do you?" April soon asked him.

"No, but... I was..." Casey smiled bashfully, trying to cover up a bit.

April smirked then. "Will you just shut up and kiss me?" she then asked. "I got a report to do."

"I love it when you're pushy." Casey smirked back.

The two soon seemed to laugh at each other before they shared a kiss with each other. The Turtles cheered as Casey and April kissed.

"We were awesome!"

"Bodacious!"

"Excellent!"

"Hellacious!"

The Turtles then looked at Splinter.

"I have always liked..." The rat paused. "...Cowabunga."

The Turtles paused, then put their hands up for a high-three. "...COWABUNGA!" they declared, slapping their hands together.

Splinter laughed. "I made a funny!" he exclaimed.

The group looked at each other before beaming at each other as this story was given its own happy ending, especially with their new friends.

"Well, I guess we should get some sleep and probably try to head back to this Storybrooke after some breakfast." Atticus suggested.

"I suppose we could do that, then we'll say goodbye afterwards," Cherry replied. "I don't think we're gonna stay much longer."

And so, the group went to turn in after an epic and new adventure together as Mike happily went back home with her parents.

"Thanks, group of friends from outside of New York." Mike said to herself as she followed her parents back home at long last.


	6. Chapter 6

The next day soon came and the group went to get some breakfast as they passed April on the way.

"You're in a good mood." Cherry said to the woman.

"Oh... Just testing out a new idea that I might wanna show off... In comic book form..." April smiled innocently.

"Is that so?" Lionel asked with a smile. "Well, whatever it is, it'll probably be better than mercenary mice or hamsters with black belts in kung-fu."

"Maybe you guys would like to come by and see the pitch?" April offered. "Do you have time?"

The group looked at each other before shrugging.

"Well, I guess we're not in a major hurry," Cherry replied. "Just let us finish breakfast first."

"Of course." April smiled and nodded.

* * *

**_AND SO, AFTER BREAKFAST..._ **

April and the others went to Mar-Cee Comics' main building to present the sketches and the pitch. 

After handing Mr. Cushing the envelope, April and the others waited as he looked over the sketches April had drawn. After a few minutes, he finally spoke. "Uh, these are very interesting, Miss O'Neil," he replied. "But as the basis for a comic book? I'm afraid the idea is just too... Farfetched."

April, Danny, and the others couldn't help but laugh at this. The Turtles were shown to be crawling from out the window without Mr. Cushing noticing.

Mr. Cushing gave them a look like they had all just lost their minds.

"Farfetched?!" Mikey repeated with a scoff. "Sheesh! Waugh!" he then yelped as he nearly slipped from where he was dangling.

"Spoilsport." Patch mumbled about Mr. Cushing's reaction.

"Did that dog just say something?" Mr. Cushing soon asked.

"Nope." The group replied casually and calmly.

All in all, it was just another day in New York; besides, it's a shell of a town anyway! The group then got ready to go once they saw that a certain warlock had appeared.

"Hey, guys," Drell greeted. "Have a good adventure?"

"It was... Something else..." Cherry replied. "So can we go back to our Storybrooke vacation now?"

"Yeah, that place seemed nice," Atticus added. "Even if it was kind of a small town."

"Like I said, I'd be down to living there someday," Lionel nodded. "Everything's within walking distance!"

Drell glanced at them. "...Very well," he then said. "You can go back to your little Storybrooke."

"Cool." Atticus said.

"Not that you missed much there," Drell shrugged. "But I hope you learned something during this little adventure."

"Work together, even when your siblings drive you crazy?" Cherry guessed.

"That's probably the lesson." Drell said as he decided to take them right back to Storybrooke.

"It seems like a suitable lesson for this situation." Lionel replied.

* * *

And so, they left New York City and they were suddenly back in Storybrooke as a glimmer of magic shined through them as they passed the town line. The group had to wonder what that had to mean, but Drell didn't tell them. They shrugged it off for now and simply walked along to get settled into Storybrooke again as a wolf seemed to be by the town sign before running off into the woods.

"Where did that wolf come from?" Atticus wondered.

"Gee... I dunno... It's like wolves are always wandering out of the forest..." Cherry feigned shock as she saw it as no big deal.

"Whatever," Lionel replied. "It's probably not important."

* * *

They soon walked back into Storybrooke as a man drove by in his truck before they came to a stop.

"Whoa... You guys new in town or something?" The bearded driver asked, he was a bit short, though not that much.

"More or less," Cherry replied. "Just trying to remember our way around."

"Uh, I was on my way to work, but maybe I can drive you back into town," The man said to them. "You stayin' at Granny's Inn?"

The group confirmed that they were.

"All right, come on in," The man invited, unlocking his doors and Cherry took the front seat while everyone else would take the backseats. "I thought I didn't recognize ya. You're also lucky I'm in a good mood, I can be pretty grumpy sometimes."

"Sounds reasonable," Mo replied. "Everyone gets kinda grumpy sometimes."

"Where you kids from?" The man asked as he drove them into town.

"Greendale," Cherry replied before she pointed backwards. "A bunch of miles and four hours that way."

"Well... Let's hope you like it here," The man replied. "The name's Leroy by the way."

"Well, we appreciate you helping us out, Mr. Leroy," Atticus smiled. "I'm sure by at least tomorrow we'll remember where to go after we study the map that we bought of the area."

"Especially with the vacation we have planned around here." Mo added.

"I'm sure you will," Leroy replied as they passed by other cars and people on the streets. "It's quite a town if you ask me. Ah..." he then said as he stopped a few feet in front of the inn that they were in before. "Here we are... Granny's Inn... She can give you a temporary home and a good meal... Just don't eat her meatloaf."

"Why?" Atticus asked.

"Just trust me." Leroy replied.

"Um... Okay?" Atticus then shrugged. "Well, guys, here we are again."

"Yep," Lionel nodded. "And this time for a while longer!"

"Have a good stay." Leroy told them.

The group smiled and nodded as they got out of his truck and he soon drove off down the road.

"Well, guys, I think we're in for another new vacation." Atticus said to the others hopefully.

"Here's hoping!" Patch agreed.

The group then went inside Granny's Inn and went to sit down and relax after a big adventure in New York City with some new friends of theirs. The young boy from earlier was shown to be looking at the inn as he had a thoughtful look on his face as he held onto his big book of fairy tales before he soon walked off to head back home which was The Mayor's mansion with the large apple tree up front. Clearly something big had happened, but even though the adventure had concluded, that didn't mean it was finished.

"Wait, what...?" Cherry blinked as she looked around. "...It's not fin--"

* * *

The End

"...I'm serious!" Cherry's voice complained as this story ended for now until the next time, so brace yourself for Part 2 coming very soon.

"Yep!" Lionel replied. "The Storybrooke Turtles saga is only just beginning!"

Cherry let out a frustrated sigh. "Very well," she then said. "Looks like we're stopping right here... See ya later then!" she then told the readers.

"Buh-Bye, everybody!" Lionel waved as the story ended.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, did you all like that little crossover treat? ...Yeah, I bet not, I'm not the best or most original fan fic author out there. After this, there's gonna be Halloween based projects or at least something dealing with the spooky or more supernatural if you guys are gonna stick around. The trilogy will be continued eventually for those interested, so let me know what you thought of Part 1. I know you're all out there, whether I'm a good author in your opinion or horrible because of my autism, I really don't mind or care. Either way, see you next time for the next installment of the Storybrooke Turtles saga or anything else that comes after this project.


End file.
